# Where does titanium come from?

Source: Commodity Origins, https://commodityorigins.com/commodities/titanium/ — data JSON: https://commodityorigins.com/data/commodities/titanium.json — license CC BY 4.0 (upstream data keeps its license; see Sources below).

Titanium comes mainly from China, which produced 3.2 million tonnes in 2025, 34% of the world's 9.4 million tonnes (USGS MCS). Mozambique (20%), South Africa (14%) and Australia (8.3%) follow; the top five together supply 81%. The biggest exporter of titanium ore and concentrate (HS 261400) is South Africa (23% of world export value in 2024, CEPII BACI). Titanium is abundant in the crust but only worth mining where ilmenite and rutile have been concentrated, either in heavy-mineral beach sands or in a few hard-rock bodies, which is why supply comes from coastal sands in Mozambique, South Africa and Australia and from rock deposits in China and Norway.

*A strong, light and corrosion-resistant metal; this page covers the ilmenite and rutile sands and ores that are the source of both titanium metal and, mostly, white titanium dioxide pigment.* Also called: Ti, ilmenite, rutile, titanium dioxide, TiO2, titanium minerals.

## Where does titanium come from?

| Rank | Country | Production 2025 (tonnes) | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | China | 3.2 million | 34% |
| 2 | Mozambique | 1.9 million | 20% |
| 3 | South Africa | 1.3 million | 14% |
| 4 | Australia | 780,000 | 8.3% |
| 5 | Norway | 390,000 | 4.1% |
| 6 | Senegal | 370,000 | 3.9% |
| 7 | Canada | 360,000 | 3.8% |
| 8 | Madagascar | 300,000 | 3.2% |
| 9 | India | 240,000 | 2.6% |
| 10 | Ukraine | 200,000 | 2.1% |
| | Rest of world | 230,000 | 3.8% |
| | World | 9.4 million | 100% |

Source: USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries, MCS 2026.

This page covers the titanium minerals, ilmenite and rutile, which are the ore end of the chain. In 2025 China mined 3.2 million tonnes of ilmenite, counted as contained titanium dioxide (TiO2), 34% of the world total of 9.4 million tonnes (USGS MCS). Mozambique followed with 20%, then South Africa (14%), Australia (8.3%) and Norway (4.1%). The top five account for 81%, and 11 countries mine it. That world figure is the sum of the countries USGS lists one by one; its own total adds an "other countries" line and is a little higher.

Rutile is the scarcer, richer mineral. Australia mined 44% of the world's 450,000 tonnes of rutile in 2025, with Sierra Leone at 24% and South Africa at 22%. Its producer list differs from the ilmenite list. The two minerals differ chemically: rutile is nearly pure TiO2, while ilmenite is an iron titanium oxide, FeTiO3, which is roughly half TiO2 by weight even when pure.

The deposits fall into two types. Heavy-mineral sands are coastal or river placers where weathering has left dense minerals behind: Kenmare's Moma mine in Mozambique, the Richards Bay and Tronox operations in South Africa, and the Australian and Sierra Leonean rutile mines are of this kind. Hard-rock ilmenite comes from igneous bodies, such as the Tellnes deposit in Norway and the Lac Tio deposit in Quebec, which Rio Tinto describes as the largest solid ilmenite deposit in the world. In China much of the ilmenite is recovered from the vanadium-bearing titanomagnetite deposits of the Panzhihua district in Sichuan.

Reserves of ilmenite stand at 493.9 million tonnes (2025), with Australia holding 34%, China 22% and Canada 10% (USGS MCS). Two cautions apply. USGS gives no reserve figure for Mozambique or Senegal, both large producers, so those shares are measured against an incomplete total. And USGS notes that the Australian reserve meeting the stricter JORC reporting code is well below the figure shown, so the ranking reflects differing definitions as well as geology.


## Who exports and imports titanium?

Most titanium minerals become titanium dioxide pigment, and only a small share is made into titanium metal, so the two uses (paint and aircraft) have very different supply chains from the same ore.

### Exporters of titanium ores and concentrates (HS 261400), 2024

| Rank | Country | Value (US$) | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | South Africa | $746.2 million | 23% |
| 2 | Australia | $428.3 million | 13% |
| 3 | Mozambique | $379.6 million | 12% |
| 4 | Norway | $217.5 million | 6.8% |
| 5 | Sierra Leone | $176.4 million | 5.5% |
| 6 | Senegal | $168.2 million | 5.3% |
| 7 | Madagascar | $165.9 million | 5.2% |
| 8 | Canada | $155.8 million | 4.9% |
| 9 | India | $111.2 million | 3.5% |
| 10 | Kenya | $103.9 million | 3.3% |
| 11 | Ukraine | $83.8 million | 2.6% |
| 12 | China | $68.8 million | 2.2% |
| 13 | Nigeria | $61.3 million | 1.9% |
| 14 | Vietnam | $60.7 million | 1.9% |
| 15 | Egypt | $39.5 million | 1.2% |

### Importers of titanium ores and concentrates (HS 261400), 2024

| Rank | Country | Value (US$) | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | China | $860.5 million | 27% |
| 2 | United States | $438.2 million | 14% |
| 3 | Japan | $326.4 million | 10% |
| 4 | Belgium | $233.5 million | 7.3% |
| 5 | Germany | $211.3 million | 6.6% |
| 6 | United Kingdom | $142.4 million | 4.5% |
| 7 | Mexico | $114.6 million | 3.6% |
| 8 | Canada | $92.3 million | 2.9% |
| 9 | Norway | $89 million | 2.8% |
| 10 | Saudi Arabia | $85.1 million | 2.7% |
| 11 | Netherlands | $80.8 million | 2.5% |
| 12 | Malaysia | $78.5 million | 2.5% |
| 13 | India | $64.6 million | 2% |
| 14 | South Korea | $60.3 million | 1.9% |
| 15 | Russia | $33.2 million | 1% |

### Exporters of titanium dioxide pigments (80% or more tio2) (HS 320611), 2024

| Rank | Country | Value (US$) | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | China | $4.2 billion | 41% |
| 2 | United States | $1 billion | 10% |
| 3 | Germany | $740.8 million | 7.3% |
| 4 | Belgium | $566.8 million | 5.6% |
| 5 | Mexico | $558.5 million | 5.5% |
| 6 | Australia | $541.3 million | 5.3% |
| 7 | United Kingdom | $449.2 million | 4.4% |
| 8 | Canada | $306.9 million | 3% |
| 9 | Netherlands | $230.1 million | 2.3% |
| 10 | Japan | $198.5 million | 2% |
| 11 | Slovenia | $168 million | 1.7% |
| 12 | Spain | $157.8 million | 1.6% |
| 13 | Saudi Arabia | $157.2 million | 1.6% |
| 14 | Czechia | $133 million | 1.3% |
| 15 | Norway | $122.8 million | 1.2% |

### Importers of titanium dioxide pigments (80% or more tio2) (HS 320611), 2024

| Rank | Country | Value (US$) | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | India | $1.1 billion | 11% |
| 2 | United States | $607.9 million | 6% |
| 3 | Germany | $511.8 million | 5% |
| 4 | Belgium | $476.6 million | 4.7% |
| 5 | Brazil | $416.6 million | 4.1% |
| 6 | Turkey (Türkiye) | $413.6 million | 4.1% |
| 7 | Italy | $403.9 million | 4% |
| 8 | South Korea | $371 million | 3.7% |
| 9 | France | $339 million | 3.3% |
| 10 | China | $328.8 million | 3.2% |
| 11 | Vietnam | $281.6 million | 2.8% |
| 12 | Indonesia | $273.4 million | 2.7% |
| 13 | Thailand | $261.7 million | 2.6% |
| 14 | Spain | $233.1 million | 2.3% |
| 15 | Mexico | $225 million | 2.2% |

### Exporters of titanium, unwrought, and powders (HS 810820), 2024

| Rank | Country | Value (US$) | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Japan | $455.9 million | 34% |
| 2 | Kazakhstan | $218.5 million | 16% |
| 3 | Saudi Arabia | $183.4 million | 14% |
| 4 | United States | $159.2 million | 12% |
| 5 | China | $79.5 million | 5.9% |
| 6 | Canada | $64.3 million | 4.8% |
| 7 | United Kingdom | $30.2 million | 2.2% |
| 8 | Russia | $28.2 million | 2.1% |
| 9 | Germany | $27 million | 2% |
| 10 | Czechia | $23.7 million | 1.8% |
| 11 | Italy | $22.5 million | 1.7% |
| 12 | France | $12.7 million | 0.9% |
| 13 | Other Asia, nes | $7.2 million | 0.5% |
| 14 | Netherlands | $4.3 million | 0.3% |
| 15 | Spain | $4.2 million | 0.3% |

### Importers of titanium, unwrought, and powders (HS 810820), 2024

| Rank | Country | Value (US$) | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States | $486.3 million | 36% |
| 2 | France | $178.5 million | 13% |
| 3 | United Kingdom | $125.1 million | 9.3% |
| 4 | Italy | $89.2 million | 6.6% |
| 5 | South Korea | $85.4 million | 6.4% |
| 6 | Japan | $70.6 million | 5.3% |
| 7 | Belgium | $60.9 million | 4.5% |
| 8 | Ireland | $35.4 million | 2.6% |
| 9 | Germany | $29 million | 2.2% |
| 10 | Czechia | $20.9 million | 1.6% |
| 11 | Estonia | $19.7 million | 1.5% |
| 12 | Spain | $17.2 million | 1.3% |
| 13 | India | $15.3 million | 1.1% |
| 14 | China | $13.8 million | 1% |
| 15 | Austria | $13.2 million | 1% |

Source: CEPII BACI international trade database (HS22, V202601).

Three different goods share the name titanium in trade, and their leading exporters differ completely. In 2024 South Africa was the largest exporter of titanium ore and concentrate (HS 261400) with 23% of world export value, ahead of Australia (13%), Mozambique (12%), Norway (6.8%) and Sierra Leone (5.5%), on world trade of $3.2 billion (CEPII BACI). China was the largest importer with 27%, followed by United States (14%), Japan (10%) and Belgium (7.3%). These are shares of value, not of tonnes, and rutile sells for much more per tonne than ilmenite, which is consistent with Australia ranking higher as an exporter than as an ilmenite miner. Titanium slag, a smelted upgrade of ilmenite, travels under a separate customs heading and is not in these figures.

Pigment is the second line. Titanium dioxide pigment (HS 320611) was a trade of $10.1 billion in 2024, larger than the ore trade, and China supplied 41% of it, ahead of United States (10%), Germany (7.3%) and Belgium (5.6%). The largest importer was India (11%). The European Commission imposed definitive anti-dumping duties on Chinese titanium dioxide in January 2025, so this is a line where trade policy bites. Such measures are reviewed periodically, so the Commission's trade-defence pages are the reference for the duty in force.

Metal is the third. Unwrought titanium and powders (HS 810820), the heading that covers sponge, were traded at $1.3 billion in 2024. Japan led exports with 34%, then Kazakhstan (16%), Saudi Arabia (14%) and United States (12%), and United States was the largest importer (36%). Mining, ore export, pigment export and metal export are four different league tables, and a country can lead one while barely appearing in another. See [producing, exporting and processing](/learn/producing-vs-exporting-vs-processing/) for why that matters.


## What does titanium cost?

### How it is priced

This page quotes no titanium mineral price, because there is no free public series and no exchange benchmark. The prices that exist are assessments and unit values: USGS takes its rutile and ilmenite prices from a commercial assessment service and a trade-tracking service, and for slag and imported ilmenite it falls back on customs unit values. Publishing a figure here would require a license this site does not hold.

What can be said is how the market works. The minerals are sold by grade, meaning the TiO2 content and the impurities, and price rises steeply with grade: rutile, slag and synthetic rutile fetch a multiple of the price of raw ilmenite per tonne, and USGS reports separate series for each.

Part of the market never meets an open price at all. Some pigment makers own their feedstock: Kronos reports that its Norwegian ilmenite mine supplied all the feedstock for its sulfate-process plants in 2025, and Tronox runs mines, smelters and pigment plants within one company. Pigment, sponge metal and mineral concentrate are each priced in their own markets for different grades, and a move in one does not transmit mechanically to the others.


## What moves the price of titanium?

### Pigment demand and the economy

Nearly all United States titanium mineral concentrate goes to pigment producers, according to USGS, and the pigment goes mainly into paint, plastics and paper. USGS describes consumption of the minerals as closely tied to pigment output, and demand for those end uses as related to gross domestic product.

### Chinese consumption and imports

China is the leading producer and consumer of titanium mineral concentrates, according to USGS, and it also imports heavily. In January to September 2025 Mozambique was the largest source of its imports of concentrates, ahead of Australia and Norway.

### Feedstock grade and the choice of process

The sulfate pigment process can use ordinary ilmenite, while the chloride process needs richer feedstock such as rutile, synthetic rutile or slag. A plant's process determines what it can buy.

### Mine depletion and closures

Sand mines are finite, and a closure removes a defined product. The Kwale mine in Kenya, which began production in 2013, ended mining in December 2024 when its ore was depleted, and USGS lists Kenyan rutile output in 2024 but none in 2025.

### Upgrading capacity

Turning ilmenite into slag or synthetic rutile needs smelting furnaces or leaching plants. Upgrading adds a processing step between the mine and the pigment or metal plant.

### Trade measures on pigment

Pigment is the largest traded item in this chain and has been the subject of trade policy. The European Union's definitive anti-dumping duties on Chinese titanium dioxide, imposed in January 2025, apply to pigment from China; the Commission's trade-defence pages are the reference for the rate in force.

### Aerospace demand and sponge supply

The metal takes only a small part of the ore, but sells for far more per tonne than pigment. USGS reports that the United States made no titanium sponge in 2025 and imported a record quantity, and world sponge output comes from a handful of producers, led by China.

## How is titanium produced?

Sand deposits are mined by dredge or dry excavation, and the sand is passed through wet concentrator plants that make a heavy-mineral concentrate. At Moma in Mozambique that concentrate contains ilmenite, rutile and zircon, which are then separated into products, using the differences in density, magnetism and electrical conductivity between the minerals. Hard-rock ilmenite, as at Tellnes in Norway, is mined from open pits, crushed, ground and separated into an ilmenite concentrate.

Ilmenite concentrate is often not the end of the mineral stage. It can be smelted with carbon in a furnace to give titanium slag, with a TiO2 content far above the ore's, plus pig iron as a by-product, which is how Rio Tinto's Quebec complex and Richards Bay Minerals operate. Or the iron can be leached out to leave synthetic rutile, with a TiO2 content above 90 percent. Both are premium feedstocks for the chloride pigment process and for metal.

Pigment is made in one of two ways. The sulfate process digests ilmenite in sulfuric acid, and the chloride process reacts feedstock with chlorine and carbon to make titanium tetrachloride, purifies it by distillation and burns it in oxygen to give pigment, recycling the chlorine. Kronos dates the first commercial pigment process to 1916, and DuPont developed the chloride route in the 1950s.

Metal starts from the same tetrachloride. In the Kroll process, which replaced the older Hunter process for almost all commercial production, liquid magnesium reduces the tetrachloride at 800 to 850 degrees Celsius in a sealed steel retort, leaving a porous titanium sponge that is purified and then melted in a vacuum arc furnace. The steps are batch operations. Everything on this page is expressed as contained TiO2, so tonnages of concentrate by gross weight will be larger.


## What is titanium used for?

Pigment takes nearly all of the ore. Titanium dioxide is the dominant white pigment because of the whiteness, brightness and opacity it gives. USGS lists paints, including lacquers and varnishes, as the leading use, followed by plastics and paper, with smaller uses in catalysts, ceramics, coated fabrics, floor coverings, printing ink and roofing granules. In the United States the remainder goes to welding-rod coatings, carbides, chemicals and titanium metal.

The metal is the high-value end. Titanium has a strength-to-weight ratio and corrosion resistance that few materials match, and USGS reports that in the United States most of it goes into aerospace, with armor, chemical processing, marine hardware, medical implants and power generation making up the rest.

Substitution is possible at the edges. Ground calcium carbonate, precipitated calcium carbonate, kaolin and talc compete with titanium dioxide as white pigments, although they do not match its opacity. For the metal, aluminum, composites, intermetallics, steel and superalloys compete in high-strength uses, and nickel, specialty steels and zirconium alloys can replace it where corrosion resistance is the need. USGS reports no recycling of titanium minerals.


## Supply chain and chokepoints

The chain runs from mineral sands or hard-rock ilmenite, through concentrate and upgrading to slag or synthetic rutile, to pigment or sponge, and the concentration rises as it moves downstream. Mining is spread across several continents, with the top three ilmenite producers accounting for 68% of world output. Pigment and metal are more concentrated. USGS puts the bulk of world pigment capacity in China, and its sponge table shows production in China, Japan, Russia, Kazakhstan and Saudi Arabia, with none reported in the United States in 2025.

This is where the critical-mineral angle is real. The European Union lists titanium metal as both critical and strategic under the Critical Raw Materials Act of 2024, and the 2025 United States critical minerals list names titanium. Those listings refer mainly to metal for aerospace and defense, which is a small use of ore, so this page covers the ore end of that chain. The dependence they describe sits at sponge and downstream, not at the mine: the United States relies on imported concentrate and imported sponge while remaining a net exporter of pigment. See [critical minerals](/critical-minerals/) and the glossary entry on a [critical mineral](/glossary/critical-mineral/) for how the lists differ.

The material is bulk and moves in shiploads, such as the Lac Tio ore that Rio Tinto ships 880 km by boat to its Sorel-Tracy complex. Smelting produces pig iron alongside slag, so the economics of titanium upgrading are tied to those of [iron ore](/commodities/iron-ore/) and steel.

The vulnerability is therefore of grade and location, not of quantity. Reserves are large compared with annual mining, USGS reports world resources of several times the reserves, and no part of that supports a claim of shortage. The step that needs specialised plant is converting ore into the grades that the chloride pigment process and the metal industry need.


## Key companies

- Rio Tinto: titanium minerals miner and titanium slag producer (Quebec and Richards Bay Minerals), United Kingdom, listed
- Tronox: mineral sands miner, slag producer and titanium dioxide pigment maker, Stamford, Connecticut, United States, listed (TROX)
- Kenmare Resources: Moma Titanium Minerals Mine operator (ilmenite, rutile, zircon), Ireland, listed (KMR)
- Kronos Worldwide: titanium dioxide pigment maker with its own ilmenite mine in Norway, United States, listed (KRO)

## Timeline

- 1916: First commercial titanium dioxide pigment process. Kronos dates its first commercial pigment process to 1916; pigment production at scale created the demand that still takes nearly all titanium ore. (https://www.kronosww.com/)
- 1948: DuPont starts commercial titanium metal by the Kroll process. The magnesium reduction route turned titanium from a laboratory material into an aerospace metal and remains the main commercial route to sponge. (https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/899609)
- 1960-10: Tellnes ilmenite mine opens in Norway. A hard-rock ilmenite mine showed that titanium feedstock need not come from beach sands and became one of Europe's largest ilmenite sources. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tellnes_mine)
- 1976: Richards Bay Minerals begins operating in South Africa. A sand mine combined with a smelter for titanium slag and pig iron put South Africa among the leading titanium feedstock suppliers. (https://www.riotinto.com/en/operations/africa/richards-bay-minerals)
- 2007: Kenmare begins production at Moma in Mozambique. A very large heavy-mineral sand deposit helped make Mozambique one of the leading producers of ilmenite. (https://www.kenmareresources.com/our-business/the-moma-mine/)
- 2024: EU law lists titanium metal as critical and strategic. The Critical Raw Materials Act put titanium metal on the European Union's lists, which focused policy attention on sponge and metal supply, not on the ore. (https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC137082)
- 2024-12: Kwale mine in Kenya completes mining. A mine that began producing in 2013 ran out of ore, removing Kenyan rutile from the world supply and showing how finite sand deposits are. (http://baseresources.com.au/our-assets/kwale-operations/)
- 2025-01: EU imposes anti-dumping duties on Chinese titanium dioxide. Duties on the leading pigment exporter changed the terms of the largest traded item in the chain and marked a move to trade policy in titanium products. (https://policy.trade.ec.europa.eu/news/eu-acts-counter-dumping-titanium-dioxide-china-2025-01-09_en)

## Frequently asked questions

### which country produces the most titanium ore

China mined 3.2 million tonnes of ilmenite, as contained TiO2, in 2025, 34% of the world total of 9.4 million tonnes (USGS MCS). Mozambique was second with 20%. For rutile, the richer mineral, Australia led with 44%.

### what are ilmenite and rutile used for

Almost all of it is processed into titanium dioxide, the white pigment used in paint, plastics and paper. Ilmenite can also be upgraded to titanium slag or synthetic rutile, and a small part of those feedstocks becomes titanium metal sponge for aerospace and other demanding uses, made by the Kroll process.

### is titanium ore, titanium dioxide and titanium metal the same market

No. Their leading exporters differ. In 2024 South Africa led exports of ore and concentrate (23%), China led titanium dioxide pigment (41%) and Japan led unwrought titanium and powders (34%), by export value (CEPII BACI).

### how much titanium ore is left

World ilmenite reserves are 493.9 million tonnes in 2025 for the countries USGS reports, with Australia holding 34% (USGS MCS). Reserves are large against annual mining, so the constraint is conversion into high-grade feedstock, not the amount of ore.

### why is there no titanium price on this page

No free public benchmark exists. Rutile and ilmenite are assessed by private services, slag and synthetic rutile are tracked through customs unit values, and some feedstock moves inside integrated companies without a market price. Pigment and metal are priced separately again.

### is titanium a critical mineral

The European Union lists titanium metal as both critical and strategic under its Critical Raw Materials Act, and the United States 2025 critical minerals list names titanium. Those listings concern chiefly the metal, so the ore, which China leads in mining at 34% of output (2025), is the first step of that chain.

## Sources

- USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries, MCS 2026, fetched 8 October 2026. License: Public domain (US Government work). https://www.usgs.gov/centers/national-minerals-information-center/mineral-commodity-summaries
- CEPII BACI international trade database (HS22, V202601), BACI HS22 V202601, fetched 6 September 2026. License: Etalab Open Licence 2.0. https://www.cepii.fr/CEPII/en/bdd_modele/bdd_modele_item.asp?id=37

Text last reviewed 2026-10-06. The text is written with AI assistance and checked against the cited data; figures are computed by scripts from the sources (https://commodityorigins.com/about/#how-ai-is-used). Cite as: Commodity Origins, "Where does titanium come from?", https://commodityorigins.com/commodities/titanium/.