Resumen de Laying it on thick
Increases in Chinese sulphate TiO[subscript]2 supply and the vast price difference between the different feedstocks for each route - ilmenite, used in chloride route TiO[subscript]2, is per tonne around six or seven times cheaper than the price of rutile, according to the IM Pricing Database - coupled with a crippling economic downturn in end markets such as construction, shipbuilding, meant that for a while the industry looked to be turning to sulphate route TiO[subscript]2, for cost saving purposes in some applications.
In 2011 there was an estimated 30,000 tonnes of chloride route TiO[subscript]2 coming out of China (and this figure was hotly debated at the time). Today, analysts are forecasting that in 10 years time chloride route TiO[subscript]2 will overtake sulphate route.
Only four of China's 42 TiO[subscript]2 producers currently manufacture TiO[subscript]2 using the chloride route, which additionally means that until the industry does make the switch the country will continue to import the majority of its chloride-route TiO[subscript]2 - an opportunity for producers outside of China.
