India plans to invest in and build a 200,000-ton titanium dioxide production capacity.

The project plans to create 200,000 tons of titanium dioxide and 10,000 tons of titanium metal annually. The raw materials are sourced from regional beach placer ilmenite, changing the model of direct export of raw ore, and realizing the whole chain production from ore to titanium dioxide and titanium metal.

India has prominent titanium resource endowment, owning the world's third-largest titanium ore reserves, with an equivalent ilmenite reserve of about 92 million tons. However, the resource advantage has not been translated into finished product capacity. Currently, India's import application on titanium dioxide exceeds 75%, of which about two-thirds of the imported goods come from China. This Adani project is India's first attempt to connect the complete manufacturing chain from titanium ore resources to titanium pigment and titanium metal.

Capacity data shows, India's existing domestic titanium dioxide capacity is about 82,500 tons per year. Adani plans a titanium dioxide capacity of 200,000 tons, which is 2.4 times of India's existing capacity. At present, India's annual domestic demand to titanium dioxide is 400,000 tons, and greater than 300,000 tons of the gap is filled by imports. If this project is successfully implemented, India's import application on titanium dioxide will be significantly reduced, and the share of Chinese titanium dioxide in India's import market will face direct pressure.

In terms of supporting mining area resources to the project, the proposed allocated mining area is estimated to have 6.68 million tons of ilmenite.

Calculated based on the annual consumption level of 200,000 tons of titanium dioxide and 10,000 tons of titanium metal, it can support the project's production and operation to about 10 years. Adani has applied to additional mining area lease rights to at least two mining areas, aiming to extend the project's operation period to 20-25 years. The Andhra Pradesh government stated that it will review and approve the project proposal after the regional institutional elections. At present, the technical route of the project has not been made general. The choice between the sulfuric acid process and the chloride process will determine the product positioning: whether it only meets the substitution of domestic paint-grade items, or produces high-end titanium dioxide with export competitiveness.

India is a core export market to Chinese titanium dioxide.

Data shows that in the first half of 2026, China's total titanium dioxide exports reached 1.07 million tons, of which 211,000 tons were exported to India, accounting to 20% of the country's total exports. In terms of export increment, China's titanium dioxide exports increased by about 150,000 tons year-on-year in the first half of the year, with the Indian market alone contributing 72,000 tons, accounting to 48% of the total export increment; in the export increment of sulfuric acid process titanium dioxide, India contributed as much as 76%, offsetting the export decline in markets such as Brazil and the Middle East.

The substantial development of China's titanium dioxide exports to India in this round stems from the cancellation of India's trade barriers.

In September 2025, an Indian court revoked the final anti-dumping duty ruling on Chinese titanium dioxide. In December of the same year, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) of India issued a customs order to stop levying anti-dumping duties, allowing Chinese titanium dioxide to rapidly return to the Indian market. The concentrated restocking demand after the cancellation of anti-dumping duties, coupled with India's prolonged domestic capacity shortage, jointly drove up the scale of purchases from China.

At the same time, China's traditional overseas markets to titanium dioxide continue to face pressure. The European Union has imposed anti-dumping duties on Chinese titanium dioxide at a rate of 0.25 to 0.74 euros per kilogram since January 2025, and superimposed carbon tariffs in January 2026.

Markets such as Brazil, the Eurasian Economic Union, Saudi Arabia, and the United Kingdom have also successively imposed anti-dumping duties or launched relevant trade investigations. The European Union and Brazil together cover nearly 30% of China's total titanium dioxide exports.

to domestic titanium dioxide companies, the strong procurement in the Indian market in the past two years is based on two premises: India's domestic capacity gap and the cancellation of anti-dumping duties on China. If the Adani titanium manufacturing park is successfully put into operation, the dividend brought by the tariff cancellation will gradually fade, and India's titanium dioxide supply gap will continue to narrow. In the future, there is still demand space in the Indian market, however Chinese titanium dioxide will change from being the main importer filling the market gap to a foreign supplier competing with India's new domestic capacity.