Middle East situation boosts sulfur prices by more than 70%, titanium dioxide industry raises prices twice in a month.

After half a month, the domestic titanium dioxide industry has once again sparked a price increase trend. On March 16th, Longbai Group announced an increase in the price of its Snow Lotus titanium dioxide products, with a 500 yuan/ton increase in the domestic market and a $100/ton increase in the international market. Subsequently, many companies such as Huiyun Titanium, Kunming Donghao, and Shandong Xianghai quickly followed suit with the same price increase. This is the second round of collective price adjustments in the industry within a month, following more than twenty titanium dioxide companies jointly raising prices at the end of February and early March. The fundamental driving force behind this intensive price increase is the sharp increase in upstream raw material costs. According to data from the commodity price quoting platform Yipitong, as of March 17th, the benchmark price of sulfur had reached 4616.67 yuan/ton, up 18% from the beginning of the month and 77% year-on-year; the benchmark price of sulfuric acid had surged to 1185 yuan/ton, up 12.06% from the beginning of the month and 83% year-on-year.