Contract Signed to Acquire 'Ultrafine Titanium Dioxide' Business Rights from US Company K
Expecting Profitability Improvement Alongside Stable Growth
Cosmo Chemical has successfully completed the development of high value-added special-purpose titanium dioxide that it has been developing for several years and is finally starting full-scale sales activities.
Cosmo Chemical announced on the 20th that it recently signed a contract to acquire the 'Ultrafine Titanium Dioxide (Ultrafine TiO2) business rights' from K Company, a global titanium dioxide company based in the United States.
Ultrafine Titanium Dioxide (Ultrafine TiO2) refers to nano-form titanium dioxide with a particle size much smaller than that of titanium dioxide used as a representative white pigment, specifically below 100nm (0.1μm). The smaller particle size increases the specific surface area of the product, allowing various characteristics of titanium dioxide to be utilized across diverse industrial fields. Currently, it is widely used as a catalyst in fields such as photocatalysts that oxidize pollutants upon exposure to light and water treatment agents. There are only a few companies worldwide, including in Korea, capable of producing ultrafine titanium dioxide, making it more than 50% more expensive than conventional pigment products. The global total market size is estimated to be about 40,000 to 50,000 tons.
By signing the contract to acquire the ultrafine titanium dioxide business rights from the U.S.-based K Company, Cosmo Chemical stated that it has opened the way to independently produce and sell 'ultrafine titanium dioxide' to K Company's existing customers as well as newly discovered clients. Cosmo Chemical also added that it recently completed the development of 'Purified TiO2,' a high-purity titanium dioxide used in food, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics.
A representative from Cosmo Chemical said, "With the contract to produce and supply ultrafine titanium dioxide with the U.S. K Company, Cosmo Chemical's future position in overseas markets is expected to be strengthened," adding, "High-purity titanium dioxide, like ultrafine titanium dioxide, is a high value-added product with only a few producers, and we are currently negotiating a method where Cosmo Chemical produces it and K Company sells it directly."
Cosmo Chemical plans to increase the proportion of high value-added products from the current approximately 30% to 90%. The expansion of sales of high value-added products is expected to lead to improved profitability. While the existing pigment market is highly sensitive to price fluctuations due to economic cycles, resulting in volatile profit margins, the special-purpose market is expected to generate stable profits as it experiences less price volatility compared to the pigment market.
Cosmo Chemical produces cobalt sulfate, a cathode material for secondary batteries, and is accelerating the expansion of its secondary battery materials business with recent investment in expanding its waste battery recycling business. Leveraging its ore smelting technology, Cosmo Chemical has been producing cobalt sulfate, a key raw material for secondary battery cathode materials, from cobalt ore since 2010. Recently, it is about to complete a recycling plant at the end of June this year that extracts cobalt, nickel, and lithium from waste secondary batteries to produce raw materials. Full-scale production and sales are expected to begin next month.
Cosmo Chemical expects to improve profitability by expanding investment in the secondary battery materials business and transitioning to high value-added products in the titanium dioxide business division.
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