China becomes major player in titanium industry (13 June 2007)

China is ranked fourth in the world in terms of its titanium industrial setup, after the United States, Russia and Japan.

Starting in the 1950s, China began building a titanium processing, production and research base represented by Baoji Nonferrous Processing (known as the Baotai Group Company Ltd.) in Shaanxi Province in 1965.

The industry has developed in leaps and bounds over the past decade with annual titanium output climbing from 3 per cent of world trade in 1997 to 14.9 per cent in 2006.

The development of the titanium industry is an important gauge of a country's overall strength. Statistics show that global output of titanium sponge amounted to 125,800 tons in 2006, 18,037 tons of which was produced by China. This figure was 8,526 tons more than, or 89.6 per cent up, over 2005.

In 2006 China's annual production capacity of titanium sponge was 30,000 tons. Industry leader, Zunyi Titanium Industrial Company, has an annual production capacity of 14,000 tons, and an actual annual output of 10,204 tons.

Other leading firms include the Wushun Titanium Plant with production capacity of 5,000 tons/year, the Chaoyang Baisheng Zirconium Company Ltd. with production capacity of 5,000 tons year, the Jinzhou Huashen Titanium Industrial Company Ltd. with a production capacity of 2,000 tons/year and Luoyang Shuangrui Wanji Titanium Company Ltd. with a production capacity of 2,000 tons.

By the end of 2006, China had formed an annual production capacity of 40,600 tons of titanium ingots, and actual output of 22,120 tons, an increase of 5,890 tons, or up 36.3 per cent over 2005.

Baoji Titanium Industrial Company alone has an annual production capacity of 12,000 tons of titanium ingots and actual output of 6,000 tons, the Special Steel Branch Company under the Baosteel Co., Ltd. with an annual production capacity of 5,000 tons and output of 1,400 tons, and the Western Titanium Industrial Co., Ltd. with an annual production capacity of 4,000 tons and output of 2,000 tons.

The total production capacity of titanium ingots of these three companies, accounted for more than 50 per cent of the country's total.

Enterprises with an annual production capacity of titanium ingots exceeding 1,000 tons include the Beijing Aerial Materials Research Institute with an annual production capacity of 2,000 tons and output of 1,800 tons, the Luoyang Ship Materials Research Institute with an annual production capacity of 2,000 tons and output of 1,700 tons, and the Beijing Zhongbei Titanium Industrial Company Ltd. with an annual production capacity of 1,500 tons and output of 1,200 tons.

The year 2006 witnessed the world's output of processed titanium products total 93,200 tons, of which 13,879 tons were processed by China, an increase of 36.9 per cent over 2005. Of the total titanium products processed by China in 2006, there were 5,669 tons of sheets, up 12.5 per cent year on year; 3,098.1 tons of bars, up 309.7 per cent; 2,333.5 tons of tubes, up 35.5 per cent; 461.5 tons of forgings, up 75.9 per cent; 1,462.1 tons of castings, up 65.3 per cent.

Of the titanium products processed in China in 2006, 38.6 per cent were used in the chemical industry, 9.7 per cent by the aerospace industry, 2.1 per cent in ship-building, 2 per cent in metallurgical industry, 2.5 per cent in power industry, 0.5 per cent in pharmaceutical industry, 4.3 per cent in salt industry, 0.6 per cent in ocean engineering, 23.5 per cent in sports and creational services, and 16.2 per cent in other industries.

According to statistics, the output value of China's titanium equipment manufacture in 2006 fell 8.6 per cent from the previous year as a result of the rise of prices in titanium sponge and products, which limited the demands of chemical, vacuum salt production and metallurgical industries for titanium equipment. In 2006 China exported 1,920 tons of titanium sponge, while importing 1,608 tons.

China became a net importer of processed titanium products by importing 4,682 tons and exporting 4,610 tons. In comparison with the figure in 2005, China's titanium import went down 17.9 per cent while its export rose 83.4 per cent. Industrial insiders forecast that China's titanium industry will keep fast development pace in the coming years, as the markets in and outside China maintain prosperous.

They predicted that China's consumption of processed titanium products and titanium sponge would reach 20,000 tons and 30,000 tons, respectively, by 2010. The country's annual production capacity of titanium sponge is expected to surpass 50,000 tons by the end of this year with the annual output hitting about 30,000 tons.

According to experts, the sustained development of China's titanium over the coming decade will be fueled by massive production and consumption of iron and steel and petrochemical industries, the bloom of motor vehicle manufacture, the fast development of plane manufacture, shipbuilding and ocean engineering as well as the improvement of urbanization.

However, experts have highlighted the need for the sector to be restructured to avoid overheating. They noted tight market supply of titanium sponge early this century has forced China to import more from overseas, causing a spike in global prices. China's localities have invested heavily in titanium sponge projects.

As a result, the number of titanium sponge production enterprises increased from only two, the Zunyi Titanium Industrial Company in southwestern China's Guizhou Province and Fushun Titanium Plant in northeast China's Liaoning Province before 2004, to some 40 in more than 10 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities across the country by the end of 2006.

A survey shows that China's annual titanium sponge production capacity will exceed 50,000 tons by the end of this year and surpass 100,000 tons by 2010. The experts also called for further studies to be conducted on technology to smell titanium sponge and improve the processing of titanium products, while strengthening cooperation between upstream and downstream enterprises. – Asia Pulse