Sumitomo Titanium Expands Sponge Titanium Production Capacity

Sumitomo Titanium, the Japanese major titanium product maker, announced on Thursday the second construction work which would build up the production capacity of the sponge, was completed. Sumitomo had the capacity at 24,000 tonnes per year. The firm will step up the quality and volume and bolster up No. 1 sponge titanium maker in the world. Sumitomo invested at 6.3 billion yen as a total and started the construction work which the production capacity would increase by 6,000 tonnes from February 2005 to 24,000 tonnes.In the first construction work, Sumitomo invested at 4.7 billion yen, introducing 8 reducing furnaces; each furnace has the capacity at 10 tonnes on the charge and one distillation tower in September 2005. The production capacity rose by 4,000 tonnes per year to 22,000 tonnes per year. In the second construction work, the firm invested at 1.6 billion yen and introduced 4 reducing furnaces and 8 electrode cells. The titanium demand is good in Japan and foreign nations. In Middle East, the demand for seawater desalination plant is strong. In China, the demand for electric power plants and chemical plants is in the high level. Supply and demand of the sponge titanium is very tight. It is expected that the firm’s enhancement will mitigate the supply and demand.