Titanium dioxide market forecast for October
The two major holidays have passed. Titanium dioxide is still in the "Silver October" peak season, with the overall market price showing a trend of steady growth. A round of price hikes launched by more than 20 manufacturers in September was disrupted by the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays. Even with one fewer week in this cycle, the market price remained firm. Manufacturers implemented price increases to varying degrees based on their own conditions, and October will be a critical period for carrying out these price adjustments.
After the two holidays, changes over the past two weeks mainly appeared on the supply side. On the demand side, customers placed orders and queued for delivery before the holidays, while market activity slowed down during the break. Manufacturers maintained high-efficiency production, greatly boosting supply capacity and accelerating goods delivery. The tight spot supply situation has eased to some extent. The first few working days after the holiday may witness a peak of order delivery in October with inventory shifting. Both export and domestic manufacturers have secured certain medium and long-term orders. Most of these orders were booked at earlier old prices, while future orders will be priced flexibly at each manufacturer's discretion.
Following the wave of price increases, the market shows a notable feature: manufacturers already at high price ranges raised prices moderately, while those at low price ranges implemented relatively large real price hikes, and the gap between different price levels is narrowing obviously. After the first batch of orders is fulfilled, manufacturers will face greater pressure to acquire new orders, and may fine-tune prices again according to their own situation and market positioning.
Prices of major raw materials including titanium ore, sulfur and sulfuric acid have declined recently, lowering production costs for some titanium dioxide manufacturers. However, this does not necessarily lead to a drop in TiO₂ prices. Supported by firm market sentiment, profitability for some producers has improved slightly. Whether this positive trend can be sustained still remains to be tested by the market.
