Russia Ukraine conflict threatens titanium supply chain
The escalating conflict between Russia and Ukraine has triggered concerns about the titanium supply chain in the market, mainly because Russia and Ukraine are the main suppliers of titanium. In addition to meeting a small amount of Russia and Ukraine demand, most oftitanium sponge or titanium materialsexportedto global customers. Once the situation worsens, in addition to the impact on titanium production in the region, the follow-up sanctions in Europe and the United States may restrict the export of Russian titanium, resulting in tight supply of titanium in the market and panic purchase and hoarding by downstream buyers. At present, the price of magnesium ingot, the main raw material of titanium metal, remains high, coupled with serious global inflation and the sharp rise of other non-ferrous metals copper, aluminum and nickel, the price of titanium metal is likely to rise.
Russia's VSMPO is the world's largest producer of sponge titanium with an annual production capacity 34000 tons / year. It is also the world's largest producer of titanium, accounting for more than 20% of the world's titanium market share. It is the main supplier of titanium in Russia. A large part of the titanium used in Airbus and Boeing aircraft shells is supplied by thisVSMPO.
Zaporosh titanium magnesium complex in Ukraine is a sponge titanium plant with an annual capacity of 12000 tons. It will export 1527 tons of sponge titanium to China in 2020, accounting for 32.34% of China's total sponge titanium imports.
Due to the complex smelting technology and difficult processing, at present, only the United States, Russia, Japan and China have mastered the complete titanium industrial production technology in the world, forming a pattern dominated by the top four. In addition, although there is no sponge titanium industry in Europe, the processing and application technology of titanium materials is at the world advanced level. Ukraine and Kazakhstan inherited part of the sponge titanium industry of the former Soviet Union. The titanium material of BaoTi Co., Ltd. ranks first in the Chinese market share, and the output ranks second among similar enterprises in the world. It is one of the four major professional titanium and titanium alloy processing enterprises in the world.
In 2020, China's export volume of sponge titanium was 548.5 tons, a year-on-year decrease of 47.6%. China imported 4722.6 tons of sponge titanium, down 33.9% year-on-year.
Among them, Kazakhstan was the largest country to import sponge titanium in 2020, with an import volume of 2310 tons, accounting for 48.91% of China's total sponge titanium import; Secondly, Ukraine imported 1527 tons of sponge titanium, accounting for 32.34% of China's total import of sponge titanium; Thirdly, Japan imported 800 tons of sponge titanium, accounting for 16.94% of China's total import of sponge titanium.
