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View Full Version : The World Is Running Out Of Titanium Dioxide And The Future Is Gray



LAGC
11-24-2011, 08:45 AM
Years ago I got involved with financing a Titanium Dioxide plant in Brazil. I’ve had an eye on this commodity ever since. What I find interesting about TiO2 (“TD”) is that everything that you look at that is white has this stuff in it. From pills to food to paper to paint, if it’s white, it’s TD.

Demand for this stuff has been on a tear; rising at ~20% a year. World consumption is 2 pounds of ‘white’ per person. That’s the average for all 7 billion of us. The western countries consume about 8 pounds per person. China is just up to 1 pound. That’s where the demand is coming from. (The US uses the most TD, about 9 pounds per person)

Prices are going through the roof; up 38% this year. The raw material, rutile, has seen its price rise by a whopping 77%. Demand is projected to increase another 50% in 2012 (Link). The price has nowhere to go but up (Blame China for everything).
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So look forward to gray toilette paper/toothpaste. Newspapers too. Paint will get much more expensive, meaning we’ll paint less; our white houses (and White House) will get gray with age.

http://brucekrasting.blogspot.com/2011/11/future-is-gray.html

Our local newspaper has already reverted back to gray. Guess its alot cheaper than "bleaching" the stuff.

Anyway, might be a good commodity to invest in if you have the means.

mriddick
11-24-2011, 09:03 AM
Bleaching paper and coating paper are too very different processes, bleaching does not use any TiO2. Environmental concerns are stopping many bleaching applications in the US and else where with much of it being moved to places like China and India.