North American paint company, Haley Paint Co. is alleging that five titanium dioxide (TiO2) producers have conspired to fix pigment prices in a federal anti-trust class action in Baltimore, Maryland USA.
The accusations are levelled at four US companies: DuPont, Huntsman International LLC, Kronos Worldwide, Inc. and Millennium Inorganic Chemicals; and, Saudi Arabia’s National Titanium Dioxide Company Ltd (Cristal).
Millennium Inorganic Chemicals is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Cristal, although they were independent companies when the alleged price fixing began.
Since the matter is pending litigation, all the titanium dioxide pigment producers questioned stated that it would be inappropriate for them to comment to IM.
The complaint states the alleged price-fixing began in 2001 when the market for TiO2 was depressed and prices...