Kronos announced a second July price hike that would boost TiO2 contracts by 35 cents/lb ($772/tonne, €40/tonne). The latest proposal includes a previously announced July initiative of 15 cents/lb.
"It's absolutely insane, it's ugly," an architectural coatings maker said. "I don't know how [producers] are going to get away with it."
But he said that although his company has been looking for more than a year at ways to use less TiO2, including primers and sulphate grades, "we haven't switched yet because we like the quality of TiO2. Now we'll have to".
However, like the July Kronos initiatives, a spate of announcements from most of the other major domestic producers in recent months would also collectively amount to price gains of 50 cents/lb, or about 34%, over current prices levels by 1 October.
DuPont, Cristal and Tronox, for example, announced July price-hike efforts of 25 cents/lb on the heels of their June announcements of 10 cents/lb.
Current TiO2 prices are $1.40- 1.54/lb as assessed by ICIS, and will rise by 15 cents/lb on 1 July based on price efforts announced on 1 April.
Successful price-hike initiatives are typically implemented following 90 days of price protection.
A producer insisted that sales are steady, supply is tight, and raw material price escalation is at the root of sellers’ continued price efforts.
"It is simply cost increases that we need to pass over to our customers," the producer said. "Upstream prices are rising faster than TiO2 prices. We need to cover our cost increases, including ilmenite ore, additives and other raw materials."
"We and the other TiO2 producers are also seeking to restore margins comparable to the level they were at 20 years ago," he said.
A buyer countered that if producers haven't recouped margins by now, "they should already have gone bankrupt from losing so much money in the last 20 years".
($1 = €.70)
