Japan Titanium Shipment to Hit Record in 2007

Japanese titanium shipment is expected to hit record in 2007, according to Japan Titanium Society. The society revised the estimate upward to 38,740 tonnes for sponge titanium and to 19,400 tonnes for rolled titanium from original outlook. The higher rolled titanium is partly due to higher sponge supply when the sponge suppliers expand the output to meet growing demand worldwide. The shipment increased by 6% to 32,283 tonnes for sponge titanium and by 13% to 16,170 tonnes for rolled titanium in January-October from same period of 2006. The shipment could increase by 5-7% in 2007 compared with record 36,995 tonnes for sponge shipment in 2006 and record 18,147 tonnes for rolled shipment in 2005. Titanium demand is expected to double for airplane application and increase by 40% for other applications in 2015 from 2005, according to International Titanium Association. Despite of the strong demand, Japanese rolled titanium shipment decreased in 2006 for the first time in 3 years due to limited availability of sponge materials. The rolled products shipment increases in 2007 when Osaka Titanium Technologies and Toho Titanium try to increase the sponge output.