In 2025, China’s titanium dioxide production capacity and output both declined for the first time

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On April 25, at the 2026 plenary meeting of the second council of the Titanium Dioxide Industry Technology Innovation Strategic Alliance, held in Chengdu, Sichuan, Bi Sheng, secretary-general of the titanium dioxide alliance, noted that in 2025 China’s effective annual production capacity for titanium dioxide would decline from 5.9 million tons in 2024 to 5.7 million tons； In 2025, the total production of 36 titanium dioxide manufacturers that operate on a full-process basis reached 4.72 million tons, a decrease of 47,000 tons compared to 2024. This marks the first time in over 20 years that China’s annual effective production capacity and output of titanium dioxide have declined. 　　Bi Sheng pointed out that the titanium dioxide market remained sluggish in 2025, with production rates declining year by year; raw material and production costs stayed high, leading most companies to reduce their output, and some even incurred losses. According to statistics, by 2025, the number of full-scale enterprises in the titanium dioxide industry that had normal production conditions will decrease from 44 in 2024 to 36 ； In terms of capacity utilization, when including plants that are shut down, those operating at reduced capacity, as well as new capacity additions, the capacity utilization rate drops to 78%. 　　“In terms of production capacity, although the titanium dioxide expansion projects launched in previous years under the guise of new energy materials have seen a significant slowdown due to domestic and international factors, some new capacity will still be brought online in the future, thereby increasing the overall production capacity of titanium dioxide. Meanwhile, three additional super-large new projects were announced for 2025, with a production capacity of 1 million tons per year each. If the above expansion and new projects come online as scheduled, China’s annual production capacity of titanium dioxide will increase significantly, exceeding 7 million tons and accounting for over 70% of the global total. ”Bi Sheng said. 　　Bi Sheng emphasized that the significant increase in production capacity poses challenges to the market. On the one hand, relying heavily on domestic demand to boost the titanium dioxide market yields limited results. In the future, as new production capacity is gradually brought online, there will be a significant imbalance between supply and demand in the titanium dioxide market. On the other hand, product exports have always been one of the downstream channels for titanium dioxide. With factors such as a slowdown in global economic growth and trade barriers, intensified competition in the export of titanium dioxide has become inevitable. 　　“At present, the supply and demand structure of titanium dioxide in China is severely unbalanced, which hinders the long-term healthy development of the industry; structural reforms on the supply side are imperative. ”Bi Sheng pointed out that the industry needs to strengthen the market mechanism of survival of the fittest and facilitate the exit of outdated and inefficient production capacities. At the same time, the leading companies in the titanium dioxide industry should play a leading and driving role in terms of structural reform, industry self-discipline, preventing vicious price competition, and phasing out inefficient and outdated production capacity, so as to promote the stable and healthy development of the titanium dioxide industry.