The
drop of ilmenite import can be explained with two main reasons: the decline of
the main African suppliers and increasing domestic production. This will have
inevitable effects on foreign ilmenite suppliers to China, as the volume may
continue to shrink.
Source: Baidu
Import analyzation of
ilmenite in China
For
the month September, China has imported a total amount of 194,33 tons of
ilmenite. This sum represents a month on month decrease of 32.84%. In contrast,
the price of the imported ilmenite increased averagely 17.78% MoM up to a tons
price of $119.33, according to CCM's analysts.
On
an international view, the price of ilmenite hold a continuous increase, thanks
to the proper development of the TiO2 industry worldwide. So it is no miracle,
that the quoted prices from ilmenite suppliers in Africa, Europe, and America
remained high. Furthermore, because of the large import volume of China's
enterprises the last month, with the ability build large inventories, the
demand for ilmenite in next times can mostly be served by this reserves.
The
import volume from the main suppliers worldwide developed quite different. In
fact, while Kenya, Mozambique, and Australia had to experience partly huge
decreases, India was able to increase their ilmenite import to China greatly.
The
exact numbers are:
Kenya: 43,409 tonnes, down
by 43.34%
MoM
Mozambique: 30,324 tonnes, down
by 59.65% MoM
Australia: 230 tonnes, down
by 99.87% MoM
India: 64,416 tonnes, up
by 51.11%
MoM
The
ilmenite manufacturers in India are about to slow down their export to China
but will keep the current price of $160/t, according to the researchers of CCM.
This demonstrates their positive look into China's TiO2 future and also shows
the adapting to lower import demands of Chinese manufacturers currently.
The
African manufacturers of ilmenite faced huge amounts of export in the previous
months. As a result of it, some of them ran low on inventory and therefore
raised the quoted prices for ilmenite by 15% to 25%/t.
Production analyzation
of China's domestic manufacturers
The
overall output of ilmenite from Chinese manufacturers reached 324,000 tons in
Sept. 2016. This represents a month on month increase of 5.19%, according to
CCM. The production is mainly focused on three key provinces in China:
Shandong, Guangxi, and Yunnan.
The
ilmenite market in China, in general, remains stable at the moment. Domestic
manufacturers are not increasing any production, even when facing higher demand
from the downstream TiO2 market and related to this, higher prices. It is also
considerable, that the average quotations for 46% titanium concentration ore
stay very steady with $132.87/t and show no changing trend compared to the
middle of this year.
The
figure shows, that the import volume of ilmenite is increasing in average, but
shows some temporary fluctuation, with the peak in August this year. After the
peak, the volume even fell to 200,000 tons. Not only the Quantity but also the
price had some big fluctuation throughout the year. The peak of the price was
on November one year ago. In June this year there was another smaller peak. At
the moment, the price is rising again, in opposite to the Import volume.
The
increasing price of ilmenite is not only limited to China but is seen as a
phenomenon worldwide. The four biggest TiO2 manufacturing companies Huntsmen
Corp.m Kronos, Tronox and Chrystal already informed clients about higher TiO2
prices, due to the fact of more expensive raw materials like ilmenite.
About CCM:
CCM
is the leading market intelligence provider for China's agriculture, chemicals,
food & ingredients and life science markets.
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Tags: Ilmenite, TiO2