Chemours is hiking prices for its signature titanium dioxide product.
Used to make the ultra-white interior in refrigerators and other consumer goods, Ti-Pure's prices will go up by $150 per metric ton starting May 1. The company had already increased the price of Ti-Pure by the same amount in January.
Given the high competition in the titanium dioxide market, Jim Butkiewicz, professor of economics at University of Delaware, is puzzled by this move.
“It’s just not clear what they’re going to get by raising this price,” said Butkiewicz. “The concern is that they’ll actually lose more business. And there’s no indication that the competitors are going to follow suit.”
The strong U.S. dollar will also likely make the commodity more expensive abroad.
Sales for the company’s Titanium Technologies have been steadily declining over the last couple years, a major factor in the closure of its Edgemoor plant last year. Chemours has reported losses every quarter since it spun off from DuPont.
Butkiewicz suspects the unfavorable market conditions for titanium dioxide could partly be why Chemours became an independent entity. And raising prices could be a desperate attempt at saving the company.
“The competition in the products that Chemours makes is so stiff that it’s hard for them to make money. When you basically have commodities that anybody can produce and they all look identical, the margins are going to be thin," he said.
Recent quarterly earnings have showed that other divisions in the company aren’t doing well either. Sales for its other leading product, Teflon, have also declined. Tough times are already projected in Chemours’ future, as DuPont faces numerous lawsuits from dumping Teflon chemical C8 into waterways.
