Material Insights · Understanding the Material World

Titanium and Titanium dioxide

Titanium dioxide pigment is the main use of titanium ore, so the white pigment market, not aircraft metal, largely sets the price of ilmenite and rutile. Pigment and metal share one step, titanium tetrachloride, and China leads both industries.

Titanium (commodity) and Titanium dioxide (chemical): 4 relationships.

How they are linked

1. Feedstock: pigment takes most ore

Physical flow · Strong · Titanium minerals to titanium dioxide

Ilmenite, rutile and upgraded slag are the raw material for titanium dioxide pigment, and pigment is by far the largest use of the concentrate that is mined; in the US more than 95% goes to pigment makers.

  • more than 95% of US titanium mineral concentrates used by pigment makers, 2025
  • about 9.4 Mt world ilmenite mine output, TiO2 content, 2025
  • 9.9 Mt world pigment capacity, end 2025

In the US the small remainder goes to welding rod coatings, carbides, chemicals and metal, so mineral sands miners sell mostly to pigment plants. When pigment demand weakens, feedstock prices follow: bulk ilmenite fob Australia fell from about USD 497 a tonne in 2024 to about USD 400 in 2025. Metal makers buy from the same pool and largely take the price the pigment market sets.

Sources: USGS; USGS

2. Shared step: titanium tetrachloride

Physical flow · Medium · Both start from chlorinated ore

The chloride pigment route chlorinates upgraded ilmenite into titanium tetrachloride and burns it with oxygen to make pigment, while the Kroll process reduces the same titanium tetrachloride with magnesium to make metal sponge.

  • 500 t a year titanium sponge capacity at KMML Chavara
  • Rs 143.11 crore cost of KMML's sponge plant, a joint project with ISRO

Because the two products share this intermediate, a chloride pigment plant is a natural base for a sponge plant. India's state-owned KMML at Chavara in Kerala does both: beneficiated ilmenite is chlorinated to tetrachloride for its pigment line, and a Kroll process sponge unit of 500 t a year, opened in 2011 and financed by ISRO's Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, sits on the same site. The metal is worth far more per tonne: sponge cost about USD 12 a kilogram in 2025, about USD 12,000 a tonne, against about USD 3,200 a tonne for pigment.

Sources: USGS; The Kerala Minerals and Metals Ltd; The Kerala Minerals and Metals Ltd; Business Standard

3. Price link: competing use

Cost and price · Moderate · Both ways, pigment leads

Pigment demand sets the feedstock prices that metal makers also pay, but metal prices also respond to aerospace and defence demand, so the two price indexes are only loosely tied.

  • 0.05 monthly change correlation
  • 0.57 12-month change correlation
  • 0.73 fitted elasticity

Month to month the series barely move together; over a year they do, with feedstock costs working through with a lag of about two months. The link can weaken when the aerospace cycle and the paint and construction cycle diverge.

Sources: Material Insights (World Bank, FRED, IMF data)

4. China leads both

Geography and ownership · Strong · Same country dominates

China mines the most ilmenite, about a third of world output in 2025, and holds most of the world's pigment capacity and sponge output, so both industries depend on Chinese output and export policy.

  • about 70% China's share of world titanium sponge output, 2025 (260 of 370 kt)
  • about 61% China's share of world pigment capacity, end 2025 (6.0 of 9.9 Mt)
  • 3.2 Mt China's ilmenite output, 2025, the largest of any country

Western capacity has shrunk: the last US sponge plant closed in 2024. For importers this concentrates two separate supply risks, white pigment for paint and plastics and metal for aircraft and defence, in one country.

Sources: USGS; USGS

For investors

Key learnings

  1. Titanium ore prices follow the paint and plastics cycle, because pigment is by far the largest use of the ore; in the US more than 95% of concentrate goes to pigment makers.
  2. China's share of about 61% of pigment capacity and about 70% of sponge output in 2025 makes Chinese export volumes the key swing factor for both products.
  3. Titanium and pigment price indexes barely move together month to month (0.05) but do over a year (0.57), so feedstock cost changes reach metal makers slowly.

What to track

  • Ilmenite and rutile prices, fob Australia: Falling prices signal weak pigment demand and margin pressure on miners (Quarterly · producer reports; annual · USGS)
  • Chinese titanium dioxide exports: Rising exports push down pigment prices outside China and threaten Western plants (Monthly · China customs)
  • Titanium sponge price and aircraft build rates: A sponge price rise without pigment strength points to an aerospace-led cycle (Monthly · trade press; quarterly · aircraft makers)

For policymakers

Key learnings

  1. India mined about 240 kt of ilmenite (TiO2 content) in 2025 and holds about 15 Mt of ilmenite reserves (TiO2 content), but had only about 91 kt of pigment capacity and made about 300 t of sponge, so domestic processing captures only part of the ore's value.
  2. Because pigment and sponge share the titanium tetrachloride step, building chloride pigment capacity also builds the base for strategic metal supply.
  3. With the last US sponge plant closed in 2024 and China making about 70% of world sponge, metal for aerospace and defence depends on very few countries, which argues for keeping domestic capability such as Chavara.

What to track

  • India ilmenite and rutile output and exports: Rising exports of raw minerals mean value addition is still happening abroad (Annual · Indian Bureau of Mines, USGS)
  • Titanium dioxide imports into India: A rising import share shows domestic pigment capacity falling behind demand (Monthly · Ministry of Commerce trade data)
  • Trade remedy cases on titanium dioxide: Duties change the price gap between Chinese and domestic pigment (As notified · DGTR)

India

India mined about 240 kt of ilmenite and 13 kt of rutile (TiO2 content) in 2025 and has large reserves, but its pigment capacity is about 91 kt and its sponge output about 300 t. KMML at Chavara is the main site linking the two, with chloride pigment and a sponge unit on the same titanium tetrachloride route.

Sources

  1. Price correlation, Material Insights, Material Insights (World Bank, FRED, IMF data)
  2. Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Titanium mineral concentrates, USGS (2026)
  3. Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Titanium and titanium dioxide, USGS (2026)
  4. Process, The Kerala Minerals and Metals Ltd
  5. Titanium Sponge Factory likely to be inaugurated by Feb 15, The Kerala Minerals and Metals Ltd
  6. Antony opens 500-tonne titanium sponge unit, Business Standard (2011)