Price hike has got into full swing now in the coated electrodes containing titanium dioxide with a continuous rise of price, flux-cored wires and fluxes for submerged arc welding. Kobe Steel and Nippon Steel & Sumikin Welding will raise their prices effective from April1. Kobe Steel will increase their prices of flux for submerged arc welding by 5% effective from the delivery to users on April 1, while NS Welding will revise pricing of some products to 10 thousand yen per ton effective from the delivery to users on April 1.

Kobe Steel who announces the price hike mainly on fluxes also added their intention to discuss individually rising the prices of coated arc electrodes and flux-cored wires (FCW) keeping a keen attention to the market trend of raw materials. Due to the simultaneous price hike last year of rutile and other crude ores of titanium dioxide for welding materials, the manufacturers are forced to shift the rise on to prices and ask for understanding of their position, as they say, “The situation is so severe that there is no other way than accepting the requirement for the price hike to assume our responsibility for a constant procurement of raw materials to secure our stable supply of products to users by all means” (Kobe Steel) and “We suffer three times higher price during January-March period than last year of the procured titanium dioxide which is much consumed next to iron” (NS Welding).

Price-hike of titanium dioxide may continue at a highest level

Titanium dioxide for some welding materials which have required the current price hike is produced from mineral sand as a starting material containing much titanium dioxide deposited on the seashore. Through dozens of segregation and magnetic concentration processes, the mineral sand is produced into titanium dioxide in the plant of a mining company. The material which contains 95% of titanium dioxide is known as “Natural rutile,” around 90% as “Leucoxene” and 50% to 60% as “Ilmenite” is exported to all over the world.

A synthetic rutile processed from “Ilmenite” containing less pure titanium dioxide is used mainly for the raw material of white paints. Natural rutile from African or Australian mines is mainly used for such an application requiring a high-purity titanium dioxide as welding materials.

The price hike of titanium dioxide since last year started with the short supply of the material for paints in China. The major resource producers had already taken part in this field about five years ago. At present they dominate about 70% of the world production, especially accounting for 80% to cover requirements for high-purity titanium dioxide.