【What to watch] Recently, due to strict environmental protection inspections, a total of 550,000 tons of titanium dioxide production capacity in Panzhihua Vanadium and Titanium Industrial Zone has been affected, of which 450,000 tons of production capacity has been suspended since July 24, and 100,000 tons of production capacity has been reduced. Sure. This strict environmental protection investigation involves titanium dioxide production capacity accounting for nearly 20% of my country's total production capacity. It is expected that the short-term supply of titanium dioxide will be tight, and prices are expected to continue to rise as the peak season approaches. It is understood that titanium dioxide accounts for 25-50% of the mass fraction in the ink formulation, and some special inks are even higher. As an important auxiliary material closely related to the packaging and printing industry, the price change of titanium dioxide is also concerned by the flexible packaging factory.

Environmental rectification, titanium dioxide enterprises stop production

It is reported that Sichuan Province has launched a 10-month special inspection campaign for air pollution prevention and control in May 2017. On July 14, the Office of the Leading Group of the "Four Battles" for Environmental Pollution Prevention and Control in Leshan City issued an urgent notice on the implementation of special control measures for air pollution prevention and control, proposing that special control measures should be taken in July and August: the city's cement, ceramics, bricks and tiles, All lime production enterprises will stop production, and enterprises in key industries such as iron and steel and chemical industry will limit production to the maximum extent and reduce production load by at least 50% on the existing basis.

According to the latest news, under the pressure of the environmental protection bureau, the slag yard in Jinjiang Park of Panzhihua Vanadium and Titanium Industrial Park was required to stop operations for rectification. . The suspension of operation of the slag yard means that the industrial waste in the park has no place to be stacked, and the titanium dioxide production will not be able to start when the "titanium gypsum" of the titanium dioxide enterprise has no place to be placed. Solve the practical problems of enterprises in the park to resume work.

It is understood that a total of 550,000 tons of titanium dioxide production capacity in the Panzhihua Vanadium and Titanium Industrial Zone has been affected, of which 450,000 tons of production capacity has been suspended since July 24, and 100,000 tons of production capacity has been reduced. The production resumption time is temporarily uncertain.

Various specifications have been introduced one after another, and the supervision has become stricter, resulting in a reduction in the production capacity of titanium dioxide

Specifications are coming out one after another

Recently, the "Technical Specification for Titanium Dioxide Industrial Wastewater Treatment Engineering" undertaken by the Environmental Planning Institute of the Ministry of Environmental Protection has successfully passed the opening title. After the implementation of this standard, the discharge of titanium dioxide wastewater will enter the mandatory implementation stage from no standard, and small and medium-sized enterprises that fail to meet the three waste treatment standards. Enterprises will be under pressure, capacity supply will be further tested, and it is also expected to provide strong support for titanium dioxide prices.

Tighter regulation and reduced production capacity

According to statistics, under the influence of stricter environmental protection and limited start-up, the production capacity of titanium dioxide industry that has actually been shut down, partially shut down, and unstable in operation has reached more than 900,000 tons. In 2015, the domestic production capacity of titanium dioxide reached 3.6 million tons/year. In 2016, the exit capacity of small and medium-sized titanium dioxide enterprises reached 365,000 tons. Up to now, the number of domestic titanium dioxide production enterprises has been further reduced from 46 in 2015 to 39, with an effective production capacity of less than 3 million tons. And with the continuous deepening of supply-side reform and the further improvement of industry access thresholds, small-scale titanium dioxide production enterprises will continue to be eliminated. In the next 3-5 years, it is expected that the merger and reorganization of the titanium dioxide industry will further accelerate, and the number of production enterprises will be further reduced.

At present, at the end of June 2017, the operating rate of the titanium dioxide industry was 63%, and the overall operating rate was not high. In July, under the continuous influence of domestic environmental protection policies, the operating rate may only remain around 54%. The insufficient operating rate of the industry has caused the industry supply and demand pattern to shift to the demand side, which has promoted the reversal of the titanium dioxide market.

The off-season is not short, and the tide of price increases is coming

Generally speaking, affected by factors such as high temperature and rainy season, July and August are relatively low seasons for titanium dioxide. In June, the titanium dioxide enterprises reversed this year's five-straight-rising pattern and kept their prices on hold, which once indicated that titanium dioxide was under pressure to adjust prices. However, Lomon Baili announced on July 5 that the increase of 300 yuan/ton of chlorinated titanium dioxide has been raised. Since then, Panzhihua Haifengxin, Sichuan Lizhuo Vanadium Titanium, Luohe Xingmao, etc. have followed suit.

Some professional institutions have analyzed that the price of titanium dioxide has begun to bottom out, and it is easy to rise and hard to fall in the short term, which basically sets the tone for the price increase of titanium dioxide in the third quarter of this year. As for why the price of titanium dioxide will break the sluggish trend of the off-season market and raise the price again, the outside world speculates that it may be related to factors such as the pull of downstream demand and the impact of environmental protection policies. (Source: Investment Express, Youliu Chemical)