Titanium dioxide
The white pigment in almost all paint, plastics and paper; a 10 Mt capacity industry now dominated by China and in a deep downturn.
Commodity chemicals · Other inorganics · No. 9
- Single chemical
- Feedstock: Minerals and salts
- capacity 9.9 Mt (2025e); output about 7.8 Mt (indicative, basis: China 4.72 Mt (SunSirs, 2025) plus about 80% use of 3.9 Mt capacity elsewhere)
- 3.5 t CO₂e per t
- HS 282300, 320611
The white in almost every tin of paint now comes mostly from China, and Western plants are closing one after another.
Chart: Illustration: Titanium dioxide
Where it comes from
Chart: Map of where it comes from
Ilmenite and rutile sands are upgraded, then turned into pigment either by digesting in sulphuric acid or by chlorinating and burning the titanium chloride.
Three things to know
- Over 1.1 Mt of Western supply shut between 2023 and late 2025, including Tronox's Botlek plant and Venator's insolvency.
- India has only 91 kt of pigment capacity but imported 441 kt in 2024, making it the world's largest importer by value.
- The sulphate route leaves about 3-4 t of iron sulphate and 6-8 t of spent acid for every tonne of pigment.
The journey
- 1 Mineral sandsIlmenite and rutile dug from coasts
- 2 UpgradingSmelted to slag or synthetic rutile
- 3 Pigment plantSulphate acid digestion or chloride route
- 4 FinishingMilled and coated with alumina, silica
- 5 End usePaint, plastics, paper and inks