Titanium dioxide, sparking a price surge! What's going on, and how significant is the impact?

The “butterfly effect” driven by shipping uncertainty in the Strait of Hormuz is rapidly sweeping across the global chemical industry market. Fueled by surging costs, the domestic titanium dioxide market, which had been quiet for a long time, has sparked a round of price increases since March.

The Securities Times reporter learned from multiple channels involving leading companies in the industry and relevant upstream and downstream supply-chain players that, due to continuously rising pressure on sulfur and sulfuric acid costs, in just March, domestic titanium dioxide prices recorded a three-day consecutive increase, with a cumulative increase of around 2,000 yuan per ton.

Source of data: Shanghai Zhaochuang Information

Analysts point out that although the recent titanium dioxide price increases have already been partially implemented, under the impact of high costs, industry companies still face operational pressure. In the short term, the upward market trend may continue.

Titanium dioxide prices saw three consecutive rises within the month

“Based on the current market conditions, Rongbai Group has decided, effective March 24, 2026, to adjust prices for all Xuelian® titanium dioxide products. For the domestic market, prices will be raised by 1,000 RMB per ton from the current price; for the international market, prices will be raised by 150 USD per ton from the current price.”

In recent days, Rongbai Group’s price-increase letter for titanium dioxide has circulated within the industry. Alongside it, multiple titanium dioxide companies have, one after another, released their price-increase plans.

“A few days ago, the company did raise prices indeed, mainly because the prices of cost factors—sulfuric acid and sulfur—have gone up.” A relevant person from Rongbai Group told the Securities Times reporter that, in recent times, industry prices have shown an overall upward trend. The price level is up by about 2,000 yuan per ton compared with the earlier trough.

At the market level, data from Shanghai Zhaochuang Information shows that on March 24, domestic titanium dioxide leading plants once again raised their benchmark quotations by 1,000 yuan per ton. The cumulative increase in quotations for the month of March reached 2,000 yuan per ton, ushering in a rare three-consecutive-rise pattern within the month. Lonzong Information also shows that as of March 30, the main price of rutile-type titanium dioxide was up by 1,125 yuan per ton versus the beginning of the month, an increase of 8.38%.

As someone working within the titanium dioxide supply-chain industry, Yang Xun, a titanium dioxide industry analyst at Yan Tai Titanium, said he has also felt the impact of the recent price increases.

“The situation where titanium dioxide prices rise for three consecutive rounds in the short term is rarely seen in nearly 20 years. By March 27, the third wave of price increases had already prompted more than 20 producers in China, including Anadada, Haifengxin, TiHai, and others, to issue price-increase letters one after another.” Yang Xun admitted that, recently, fluctuations in the titanium dioxide market prices have been relatively intense. The frequency and magnitude of price increases have both exceeded market expectations. Under the broader upward trend, the trading market has also shown several notable characteristics. On the one hand, due to bullish expectations for the future, the supply side is no longer in a hurry to ship. There is less low-priced inventory in the market, and the premium for spot supplies has been more prevalent. On the other hand, because price increases have been happening too frequently lately, the validity period of quotations has shortened noticeably. More and more cases of higher prices, order cutoffs, and queued deliveries have appeared.

“Upstream prices have indeed risen, but for our company, the actually implemented increase is not that high.” A listed company in the paper industry, who asked not to be named, told the reporter that because the company has a large demand for titanium dioxide, it has some bargaining power with upstream suppliers, so the impact of cost increases is not obvious at present. However, he also acknowledged that small and mid-sized paper companies have relatively weaker pricing power. The recent concentrated announcements of price increases by titanium dioxide companies do create pressure on the cost side.

Raw material prices rise, production costs surge

During the interviews, industry insiders largely attributed this round of continuous titanium dioxide price adjustments to cost-driven factors.

“Under normal circumstances, to produce 1 ton of titanium dioxide, it takes 1.3 tons of sulfur or 4.2 tons of sulfuric acid. Since the fourth quarter of last year, sulfur and sulfuric acid prices have entered an upward mode, and in March there was even a sharp price jump.” Yang Xun said that although the recent continuous rise in titanium dioxide prices has received support from increased orders on the supply side, the sustained firmness in the prices of the raw materials sulfur and sulfuric acid is even more significant.

Shanghai Zhaochuang Information shows that as of March 30, the domestic average price of 98% concentrated sulfuric acid was 1,501.25 yuan per ton, up 31.33% from the beginning of March and up 41.92% from the end of the fourth quarter of 2025. Taking domestically produced solid sulfur as an example, as of March 27, the sulfur price reached 5,417.50 yuan per ton, up 1,771.25 yuan per ton from the beginning of the year, a rise of 48.58%. At present, the domestic sulfur price is at a relatively high level in history. As early as this year’s January, the price had already exceeded the peak of the previous round of price increases seen in 2022.

The volatility of sulfur and sulfuric acid prices has already begun to affect industry companies.

Hengbang Co., Ltd., which mainly engages in precious metals smelting, has production capacity for producing one million tons of sulfuric acid as a byproduct. In its 2025 annual report, the company mentioned that during the period, sulfuric acid output reached 1.7255 million tons, up 51.76% year over year, while sulfuric acid revenue increased to 375.52%, mainly due to increased production volume, higher sales volume, and higher sales prices.

A person in the sulfuric acid production industry told the reporter that amid disruptions from geopolitical factors, sulfuric acid prices are showing a “geographic premium” and may still remain at a relatively high level in the short term. For downstream companies, they need to focus on “reducing costs and improving efficiency” and “refined operations,” among other approaches.

“The main reason for this round of price increases is that in recent years, the international demand growth rate has been higher than the supply growth rate. The supply tightness has gradually emerged since the second half of 2024 and has driven a relatively rapid increase in prices in 2025. Since 2026, the situation in the Middle East has further aggravated the previously tight supply situation. China’s sulfur import dependency is around 50%, and the Middle East is the major trading partner, accounting for more than 55% of China’s total imports in 2025. Because overseas prices are at a high level and supply is tight, domestic prices have also been raised.” Liu Zhenpeng, a sulfur analyst at Shanghai Zhaochuang Information, said.

As a direct downstream, sulfuric acid prices are affected by the wide fluctuations in raw material sulfur prices, which also keeps cost-side pressure elevated.

Fan Xiaoying, a sulfuric acid analyst at Shanghai Zhaochuang Information, said that right now, large domestic smelting enterprises are in a period of concentrated maintenance. Spot supply in multiple places remains consistently tight. On the demand side, downstream demand overall shows a preference; main enterprises maintain stable operating rates, and demand driven procurement supports are strong. Although sulfuric acid export volumes declined noticeably in the first quarter, this has not reversed the overall tightness of sulfur resources domestically.

The rise in sulfur and sulfuric acid prices affects not only the titanium dioxide industry.

At the beginning of 2026, Chuanfa Longmang, when accepting an institutional investor survey, also frankly said that due to changes in the supply-demand structure, the price of raw material sulfur rose significantly, increasing cost pressure for companies in the phosphorus chemical industry. The company’s core products—73% industrial-grade monoammonium phosphate—have seen market prices increase somewhat due to the push from raw material costs, the traditional winter storage demand for conventional agriculture, and demand growth in the new energy sector.

Companies can’t say much about profit as price-increase expectations remain

In recent years, titanium dioxide capacity expansion has been obvious, but downstream plants have been operating sluggishly with weak demand. Coupled with anti-dumping policies that have reduced exports, the market has remained in a supply-overhang situation, with prices entering a low-level range-bound consolidation period.

Jinpu Titanium Industry mentioned in its discussion of year-on-year declines in analyzed performance that in 2025, sales prices for titanium dioxide products were at a low level, which had a significant impact on gross margins.

Lubei Chemical stated even more directly in its announcement that, affected by deep adjustments in China’s real estate industry and a slowdown in infrastructure investment growth, demand in the end-user coatings and pigments markets has remained sluggish. Its impact further propagated upstream, making competition in the titanium dioxide market increasingly intense, and products have shown a trend of “both volume and price declining.” Although the company optimizes processes to reduce unit costs, it still cannot offset the negative impact brought by falling product prices. This has caused the gross profit margin in this segment to narrow, with gross profit per ton decreasing, which in turn led to the company’s overall profit falling.

Shanghai Zhaochuang Information data shows that between 2024 and 2026, profitability for titanium dioxide companies deteriorated. After entering the third quarter of 2025, titanium dioxide companies had already entered a loss-making state one after another; losses intensified in the fourth quarter, with losses per ton around 1,800 yuan. In the first quarter of 2026 (as of March 25), losses in the industry were still worsening, and losses per ton rose to 2,300 yuan per ton.

“The reason the current market losses are continuing to expand is that the rate at which raw material prices rise is faster than the rate at which titanium dioxide prices rise. As of March 25, according to Shanghai Zhaochuang Information’s monitored data, titanium dioxide’s average production cost in March rose by 4% month over month, while product market prices in the same period increased only 3%. The expansion of March losses compared with February is nearly 1 percentage point.” Sun Shanshan, a titanium dioxide analyst at Shanghai Zhaochuang Information, said.

After three consecutive rises, is there still room for titanium dioxide market prices to move upward?

“Although the currently firm titanium dioxide prices make market users tired of chasing prices, the supply-demand pattern in trading is still slightly tilted toward the supply side, remaining a bit stronger. Orders for now may have some demand already pulled forward for the future, but based on the situation of titanium dioxide companies’ own on-hand orders, raw material costs, and other factors, market prices from April to May are unlikely to loosen. The price of rutile-type titanium dioxide produced via the sulfuric acid process may have a chance to reach 18,000 yuan per ton.” Yang Xun believes that in April, titanium dioxide market prices have been essentially set for price increases and that the supply side will continue to remain tight. For the outlook, attention can be focused on the costs of sulfur and sulfuric acid raw materials and the situation of overseas trade order intake.

Lujin Information’s titanium dioxide analyst Lu Jiaxin also believes that this round of titanium dioxide industry price-hike trend may continue until late April. The price of rutile-type titanium dioxide may reach between 15,000 yuan per ton and 16,000 yuan per ton.

“The only reason for the current titanium dioxide price increases is the rise in raw material prices, which leads to higher cost-side levels. Due to the prominent contradiction of supply strong and demand weak, the supply-demand fundamentals provide limited support for price increases.” In the interview, Sun Shanshan reminded that many titanium dioxide companies are currently showing low inventory levels. In fact, a large amount of inventory has shifted from the production side to downstream plants and traders, rather than being truly consumed by end-market demand. As inventories continue to accumulate across each link of the industrial chain, the risk of a sharp drop in market prices keeps increasing. Once raw material prices enter a downward channel, titanium dioxide market prices will also accelerate downward.

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