China accounts for more than 45% of the world’s annual consumption of titanium raw materials. Coupled with its previously mentioned production of sponge titanium, which makes up one-third of global output, and its titanium dioxide production, which represents 45% of the global total, it is safe to say that China has now become a vital component of the global titanium industry. The health of China’s titanium market and the pace of development of China’s titanium industry will both have significant impacts on the global titanium sector. In recent years, several new policies and market changes have continuously influenced China’s titanium industry. In response to these influences, Chinese enterprises have been making ongoing adjustments. Among the factors that have had a major impact on the market in recent years is the pressure exerted by environmental protection policies. Since 2016, the Chinese government has stepped up its efforts in environmental inspections and no longer tolerates companies’ illegal emissions. As a result, all enterprises have been compelled to increase their investments in environmental protection equipment. For some small and medium-sized enterprises, the financial threshold required to upgrade their environmental protection facilities has exceeded their capacity to bear, leading some SMEs to halt production and exit the market altogether. Moreover, some enterprises have limited capabilities for handling waste. To ensure compliance with emission standards, these companies have had to reduce their output so that waste generation would match their treatment capacities. In an effort to cut down on waste generation, some enterprises have also opted for higher-quality raw materials, but this move has driven up their production costs.
　　In the process of rapid development, China’s titanium industry has also gradually revealed several emerging issues. First, domestic titanium ore production has been growing relatively slowly, leading to a steadily increasing reliance on imported ores. China’s self-sufficiency rate for titanium ore reached a peak of 67% in 2014 but has since declined to 58%. Second, while demand for imported titanium ore has been rising, some major source countries have experienced fluctuations, leaving downstream enterprises without a stable supply of raw materials and thus impacting their production. The instability in raw material supply has negatively affected both the product quality and production costs of titanium dioxide manufacturers. Moreover, in recent years, the quality of imported titanium ores has been continuously declining. In particular, the reduction in TiO2 content has not only lowered the production efficiency of titanium dioxide companies but has also led to an increase in waste generation. Since 2016, China’s environmental regulations have become significantly stricter, and the rise in waste volumes has placed tremendous pressure on titanium dioxide producers. In some regions, companies have been forced to reduce production or temporarily halt operations due to emission-related issues. Furthermore, the decline in TiO2 content is typically accompanied by an increase in impurity levels, which in turn affects the quality of downstream products. As a result, downstream enterprises have had to invest more in production processes to mitigate these adverse effects.
　　As China’s demand for titanium raw materials rapidly increases, more and more companies are starting to invest in overseas mining projects. Currently, Africa is the region where Chinese enterprises have concentrated their investments, while Australia also represents an attractive investment destination. Around Perth, several promising titanium ore projects are currently under development. We also hope to see more successful cooperation cases between Chinese companies and their partners, leading to mutually beneficial outcomes. In China, driven by the massive future demand generated by chlorination-process projects, some companies are developing new technologies that will enable lower-grade titanium ores to meet the requirements for producing titanium dioxide via the chlorination process, thereby enhancing the value of these lower-grade ores. If these technologies can be successfully industrialized, they will help alleviate China’s current raw-material challenges. Up until now, China’s demand for titanium raw materials has primarily relied on sulfate-process titanium ores; however, the growth drivers of the future will shift toward chlorination-process titanium ores and rutile-based materials. The composition of domestically produced Chinese titanium ores does not meet the specifications required for the chlorination process, so China almost entirely depends on imports. This is precisely the fundamental reason behind China’s vigorous efforts to develop new technologies that can improve the applicability of titanium ores. Until such new technologies emerge, China’s substantial future demand for chlorination-process raw materials will inevitably drive their prices even higher.