Recently, a variety of chemical raw materials once again ushered in a new round of price increases.
The reporter noted that, led by titanium dioxide, the price rise trend will continue until January 2022. Recently, more than 10 titanium dioxide enterprises have sent letters saying that the price of titanium dioxide will be increased from January 1, 2022. This time, the price in the Chinese market will be increased by 1000 yuan / ton and the price in the international market will be increased by 150 US dollars / ton. At the same time, the demand of titanium dioxide market has also attracted the continuous influx of capital. At present, about 20 enterprises in the market are building and planning titanium dioxide projects.
In an interview with reporters, Zhang Xing, a researcher of Sinopharm Puhua, said that the main reason for the price rise of titanium dioxide is the rise of upstream raw materials. At the same time, due to the great impact of covid-19 pneumonia abroad, the output can not keep up with the growth of demand. The export demand of Chinese titanium dioxide is high, resulting in the price rise of Chinese titanium dioxide enterprises. At present, the demand for titanium dioxide is large, and the price rise trend is not expected to change in a short time.
price “ten consecutive rises”
On December 13, Lb Group Co.Ltd(002601) (002601. SZ) issued the latest price increase announcement. Since January 1, 2022, the sales price of various models of titanium dioxide (including sulfuric acid method and chlorination method) of the company has been increased by 1000 yuan / ton for various Chinese customers and 150 dollars / ton for various international customers on the basis of the original price.
This year, the price of Lb Group Co.Ltd(002601) titanium dioxide has increased by 10 rounds, with a cumulative increase of more than 8000 yuan / ton. The price increase once again led the overall price increase of the industry.
Since Lb Group Co.Ltd(002601) issued the price increase letter, nearly 10 titanium dioxide enterprises such as Cnnc Hua Yuan Titanium Dioxide Co.Ltd(002145) (002145. SZ), Anhui Annada Titanium Industry Co.Ltd(002136) (002136. SZ), Guangdong Huiyun Titanium Industry Co.Ltd(300891) (300891. SZ) have successively sent letters to announce the price increase, and the price increase range is generally about 1000 yuan / ton.
According to statistics, the market price of Lb Group Co.Ltd(002601) has increased 10 times this year. It was announced to increase the price of titanium dioxide on January 8, February 7, March 10, April 11, May 9, June 8, August 10, September 13, October 12 and December 13 respectively. The decline time was in July and November.
In this regard, Lb Group Co.Ltd(002601) said that in the downstream industry of titanium dioxide, the demand for coatings, plastics and papermaking accounts for a large proportion, with coatings accounting for about 40%, plastics accounting for 20%, papermaking accounting for 15%, and the rest are in areas such as printing ink. The demand for stock houses and recoating in China’s coating market is increasing, and the demand in overseas emerging market countries is growing rapidly. Affected by the covid-19 pneumonia epidemic, the demand for plastics and ink has increased. This year’s rise in the sales price of titanium dioxide is driven by both demand and cost, as well as limited new production capacity in the global market.
Zhang Xing reminded that the price rise of titanium dioxide will have a great impact on downstream fields such as coatings and will directly affect the profitability of coatings and other industries.
As for the reasons for the rise in market prices, Tu Duoduo (Internet platform for coating chemical industry) researcher told reporters that in 2021, the price of titanium dioxide showed four stages of “rise and fall”, and the price was still rising at the end of the year compared with the beginning of the year. The price of rutile titanium dioxide increased by about 3600 yuan / ton, or 22%; The price of anatase titanium dioxide increased by 5100 yuan / ton, or 39%. By the end of 2021, the tax inclusive ex factory price of rutile titanium dioxide in China is 18700 yuan / ton ~ 20700 yuan / ton, and the tax inclusive ex factory price of anatase titanium dioxide is 17000 yuan / ton ~ 19000 yuan / ton.
The above researchers analyzed to reporters that in 2021, China’s titanium dioxide market as a whole showed an upward trend, and the market price remained high due to the rising cost of raw materials and the good impact of market demand outside China. In 2022, new production capacity will be released in the titanium dioxide market, raw materials will remain tense, and titanium dioxide prices should continue to remain high.
Driven by the rising price of titanium dioxide, except for Lb Group Co.Ltd(002601) , Cnnc Hua Yuan Titanium Dioxide Co.Ltd(002145) , Anhui Annada Titanium Industry Co.Ltd(002136) and Yibin Tianyuan Group Co.Ltd(002386) (002386. SZ), the net profit of listed companies increased significantly in the first three quarters of this year.
On the evening of October 25, Lb Group Co.Ltd(002601) released its third quarterly report, which showed that the company achieved a revenue of 15.268 billion yuan in the first three quarters, a year-on-year increase of 54.25%; The net profit attributable to the parent company was 3.831 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 96.48%. On October 21, Cnnc Hua Yuan Titanium Dioxide Co.Ltd(002145) released the third quarter report, which showed that the company achieved a revenue of 3.985 billion yuan in the first three quarters, a year-on-year increase of 46.77%; The net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies was 1.002 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 181.37%.
For the reason for the significant increase in revenue in the first three quarters, Lb Group Co.Ltd(002601) said that it was due to the increase of titanium dioxide sales and selling price.
“Matthew effect” intensifies?
The reporter noted that from July to October this year, due to environmental protection and film restrictions, the output of titanium dioxide decreased slightly, and the output increased by different ranges in other months.
Tu Duoduo’s statistics show that from January to November 2021, China’s titanium dioxide output was 3.4791 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 312900 tons, an increase of 9.88%. The annual output is expected to be 3.79 million tons.
Zhang Xing said that under the influence of the covid-19 pneumonia epidemic in 2020, the global economy, production and life have been greatly impacted. In 2021, with the rapid recovery of the global economy from the epidemic, it is difficult to quickly alleviate the mismatch between supply and demand in the titanium dioxide market, and the titanium dioxide industry will maintain a high outlook driven by export demand.
In terms of export, according to Customs Statistics: from January to November 2021, the total export of titanium dioxide was 1.178 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 73900 tons, an increase of 6.70%. It is expected that the annual export volume will be 1.28 million tons and the average monthly export volume will be 107000 tons. The global economy improved, the demand in foreign markets remained strong, and the export market maintained a steady growth trend.
Titanium dioxide market demand is strong, and many manufacturers maintain full production. At the same time, companies in the industry have expanded their production layout.
On December 6, the announcement disclosed by Fujian Kuncai Material Technology Co.Ltd(603826) showed that “in order to make full use of the existing land resources and expand the scale of production capacity, the company plans to start the investment and construction of a new project with an annual output of 600000 tons of titanium dioxide, including 600000 tons of titanium dioxide and 600000 tons of iron oxide, with a construction period of 36 months”.
In addition, Hebei Jicheng new materials Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tangshan Yanshan iron and Steel Co., Ltd., has invested 16 billion yuan to build a 1 million ton chlorinated titanium dioxide project, which is under construction. The main construction of phase I of the project has been completed, and the equipment installation is under way. It is planned to complete the trial production in March 2022.
On October 25, Lb Group Co.Ltd(002601) announced that Sichuan longmang mining and Metallurgy Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company, plans to invest in the construction of 200000 tons of titanium chloride dioxide, vanadium scandium and other rare metal comprehensive recovery demonstration project (supporting 1 million tons of high salt wastewater treatment project).
In the long run, the market demand for titanium dioxide continues to be strong, with more new production capacity. It is expected that the new production capacity will be 500000 ~ 700000 tons in 2022.
In this regard, according to Zhang Xing’s analysis, the prosperity of China’s real estate industry is still high, and the application of coatings and other products continues to rise, which is transmitted to the titanium dioxide industry. The demand growth rate of the industry is higher than the supply growth rate, and the balance between supply and demand is tightening. Enterprises improve their market share by expanding production capacity, and the competition is becoming increasingly fierce.
However, Zhang Xing reminded that at present, the production capacity of China’s titanium dioxide industry is still expanding and the industry is in the stage of gradual upgrading. It is expected that the industry will maintain a high prosperity in the future. However, with the gradual implementation and production of new projects of large titanium dioxide enterprises, the industry “Matthew effect” will intensify, and small enterprises will face greater competitive pressure.
(China business daily)
