Komo: The titanium dioxide market has bottomed out

Mark Vergnano, chief executive, said recently that the international market for titanium dioxide had bottomed out in the second quarter, but that the recovery would be gradual in the future.
the titanium dioxide market feels like it's bottomed out and we're starting to see a recovery, " says Vegnano, a government official. In the past, a bottoming out of the market would usually trigger a strong rebound, but at the moment I think the market recovery will be relatively smooth, rather than a dramatic V-shaped trend like the

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the titanium dioxide market is expected to be slower this cycle as weak macroeconomic conditions put pressure on demand. "I don't think the current global macroeconomic situation will give everyone the confidence to buy, " says Mr Vergnano. As a result, purchases may be more gradual than in past cycles. In
, sales in Como's titanium dioxide business fell 33 per cent year-on-year, while prices were flat. Revenue from the division fell 34 per cent year-on-year to $567m in the second quarter, while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) fell 57 per cent to $127m.
decline was due both to lower overall demand and a decline in market share as a result of the company's value-stabilizing Ti-Pure Value Stabilisation (TVS) strategy. "In adopting this strategy, we will experience some loss of market share, which may be slightly higher than we expected," Vergnano said. The reason for this strategy is that these contracts are ideal for our coating customers, but may not be suitable for plastics and laminate customers. We are working hard to adapt to meet the future needs of our plastic and laminate customers. "
customers in the plastics and laminate industries than in the coatings industry, but these customers require a smaller amount of titanium dioxide." "A lot of customers are used to the ups and downs of the vinyl cycle, " says Vergnano. Therefore, from this point of view, these long-term contracts are not entirely suitable for them. According
, by the end of 2020, the company's online portal on the number of titanium dioxide sales will account for 20% to 30% of the company's total sales of titanium dioxide.
hundreds of customers on our portal, and the volume of business has grown significantly over the past few weeks," says Vegnano, a senior business spokesman. We're very happy with the activity and can now see how many times someone has come, what they're looking for, what they're buying. We can also experiment with products to see what people are interested in. "On Como's Flex portal, customers can purchase titanium dioxide products at a fixed price at a fixed price without a contract. Vergnano said that while the company wants most of the titanium dioxide to be sold under its stable price guaranteed value agreement (AVA) contract, we also see the benefits of Flex portal sales of 20 to 30 percent.