Industrial Minerals


Tight market turns pricing in TiO2 supply chain on its head

07 April 2011

by Mark Watts

Paint producers no longer dictating prices as feedstock moves to shorter contracts

Keywords: Sierra Rutile, SRL, rutile, titanium dioxide, paint, pigment

Tighter supply and the shorter sales contracts have turned the pricing structure of the TiO2 supply chain on its head, according to leading feedstock producer.Sierra Rutile Ltd (SRL) expects the end of long-term pricing contracts between feedstock and pigment producers to lead to an increasingly volatile pricing environment.Historically end-users, particularly the paint industry, have  dictated the price of TiO2 pigment and, as a consequence, its mineral feedstock.But the recovery of the global TiO2 market has driven a surge in demand for feedstock, which has...