It is believed that one of the reasons is that a leading manufacturer based in Southwest China raised its titanium dioxide prices successively in April and June, triggering a series of price increases by around domestic manufacturers. Newly released industrial policies about cleaner production and incremental control are also said to be a cause of the price increases.

 

Global giants also have announced price rises in June. DuPont announced a price increase of titanium dioxide by US$100 per metric ton on June 10 and ISK by US$200 per metric ton on June 12, both effective as from July 1 2014.

 

Consecutive price hikes by domestic and foreign manufacturers can be a good sign for export, says Yang Xun, analyst of SunSirs. However, according to him, it does not mean the same thing to domestic markets. Shrinking demands are still going to hinder titanium dioxide transaction prices from recovering, at least in the third quarter of 2014, Yang says.