China’s Titanium Industry Breaks Through To High-end Development

Titanium metal is a key material for aerospace, marine engineering, medical and 3C industries, and plays an irreplaceable role in national economic construction, national defense science and technology industry, people’s livelihood security and other fields.

“At present, my country has become a major titanium producer and consumer. In terms of the comprehensive competitiveness of the titanium industry, it is in a leading position in the world, but in terms of high-quality development, it is urgent to make up for shortcomings and accelerate the construction of a new pattern and new advantages of high-quality development.” Recently, Ge Honglin, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association, said at the 2025 Titanium Zirconium Hafnium Vanadium Branch Annual Meeting and Titanium Valley Industry Development Conference.

1. Output continues to grow and the development trend is stable

In 2024, my country’s titanium industry will maintain an overall stable development trend, and the output of titanium products will continue to grow.

“In 2024, my country’s titanium industry will maintain an overall stable development trend, the output of titanium products will continue to grow, the titanium industry will show centralized development, titanium consumption will show industry differentiation, and import and export trade will continue to grow.” Ge Honglin pointed out.

Ge Honglin introduced that from January to February this year, my country’s titanium industry maintained a stable and progressive production trend. The output of titanium concentrate was 1.887 million tons, the import volume was 879,000 tons, and the consumption volume was 2.165 million tons, up 3.6%, 26.2%, and 4.5% year-on-year respectively; the output of titanium sponge was 41,000 tons, the export volume was 1,000 tons, and the consumption volume was 40,900 tons, up 12.8%, 28.6%, and 11.7% year-on-year respectively.

II. Break through technical barriers and accelerate the pace of localization

In recent years, under the guidance of the concept of safety, autonomy and controllability, the non-ferrous metals industry has significantly accelerated the pace of localization, intelligence and large-scale development of large-scale equipment.

At present, in the new round of strategic opportunities such as scientific and technological revolution, industrial transformation, and expanding domestic demand, it is necessary to use innovation to gather the momentum of development, openness to gather the power of cooperation, integration to relieve the difficulties of coordination, and mutual benefit to seek shared benefits, so as to promote cross-regional coordination and cross-field integration of the titanium industry, expand the application field of titanium, and promote the upgrading of the titanium industry.

“Since the 14th Five-Year Plan, the annual compound growth rate of my country’s titanium sponge production has been about 22%, and the annual compound growth rate of titanium processed materials has reached 7.7%. “Ge Honglin pointed out that in 2024, my country’s titanium sponge production will be 256,000 tons, a year-on-year increase of 17.6%, and the self-sufficiency rate will be nearly 100%; titanium production will be about 170,000 tons, a year-on-year increase of 7%, accounting for 65% of the global total; it has become the world’s largest titanium producer and consumer.

Ge Honglin introduced that since the 14th Five-Year Plan, the compound growth rate of my country’s titanium consumption has been about 7.5%, and the consumption of titanium in 2024 will be about 150,000 tons. The application structure is still dominated by the chemical industry and aerospace fields, accounting for 48% and 21% respectively, and the consumption in the 3C industry continues to increase.

“International market consumption is mainly aviation, accounting for about half. my country needs to develop more new products to break the foreign technology monopoly and meet the urgent needs of the country’s high-end manufacturing industry for high-performance titanium alloys.” Ge Honglin emphasized.

According to reports, in recent years, under the guidance of the concept of safety, autonomy and controllability, the non-ferrous metals industry has significantly accelerated the pace of localization, intelligence and large-scale development of large-scale equipment. At present, the domestic smelting, forging, rolling, extrusion and other equipment technologies have approached and partially reached the international advanced level.

“But in terms of smelting technology, it is necessary to upgrade more advanced smelting technology to essentially improve the quality and performance of titanium alloys and provide better materials for high-end application fields. In terms of processing technology, it is necessary to upgrade the application of advanced processes such as additive manufacturing, superplastic forming, and precision forging to achieve near-net forming of complex structural parts.” Ge Honglin pointed out.

Ge Honglin further said that from the perspective of industrial efficiency upgrades, enterprises in the entire industrial chain and high-end enterprises that have deeply cultivated subdivided fields can still rely on their respective advantages to maintain positive development, but semi-process and small and medium-sized enterprises are relatively difficult and have poor profit stability. In addition, the production capacity of sponge titanium and titanium processing materials has increased significantly, and the mismatch between supply and demand has led to intensified “involution” competition, and the price of titanium finished products has further decreased.

“While reducing duplicate construction, inefficient expansion, and price involution in the industry, further vertical integration must be carried out to optimize resource allocation and upgrade industrial efficiency.” Ge Honglin emphasized.

3. Strengthen collaborative innovation to promote industrial leap

Ge Honglin required that the entire industry must further reduce internal friction in the industry, increase industrial integration efforts, accelerate the improvement of product guarantee capabilities in the internal cycle and industrial control capabilities in the external cycle, and achieve resilience and security in the industrial chain and supply chain.

At present, a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation has accelerated the reconstruction of the industrial chain and ecological chain. Although the development of the titanium industry is subject to multiple challenges such as trade barriers and resource constraints, the demand in aerospace, biomedicine and other fields continues to grow, and emerging fields such as new energy and 3C electronics also show great potential.

Keywords：
titanium products,titanium alloy