Recently, power supply shock related news is hitting the headlines in China with growing concerns that such a situation may get prevalent when winter season arrives. To tackle the crisis caused by power crunch and in an attempt to curb environmental pollution, many local governments decreed industrial users to curtail power consumption by production suspension entirely or intermittently, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Guangdong in particular where their total economies account for more than one third of China’s GDP.
- GPRO Titanium Industry Co., Ltd. along with their two tio2 production bases were required by local government and accordingly halted production at their Nanjing plant while Xuzhou plant is now operating at part of its capacity, for a temporary period.
- Another tio2 producer in Jiangsu Province was ordered to suspend production temporarily for a moment to 01 Oct. as the 1st step.
- In Shandong Province, tio2 producers were required to shut down production to varying extents up to as much as 50% its capacity.
- In Panzhihua City, the largest industrial gas supplier Panzhihua Chuangang Gas Ltd. announced on 26 Sep. that they would be on an overhaul between 27 Sep. and 01 Oct.
In addition to the above mentioned plights that manufacturing enterprises are faced with, there are transportation difficulties that China’s exporters are getting stuck in. Port congestion is exacerbating the constraints of supply chain as delays of ETD are routinized and containers are more and more a rare resource plus a number of shipping companies may claim rejection on those loaded with titanium dioxide as they are overweight for them to take onboard. Besides, ludicrously expensive shipping rates are driving insane both buyers and sellers.
Under such circumstances, we think that attentions should be paid by overseas buyers as well as to availability and lead time other than just price issues. Overseas market may fall short of supply of China origin tio2 regionally and occasionally in the following months.
Disclaimer: The above article does not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the company.