Ukraine is rebuilding the global titanium market

A global battle for strategic minerals rages, so Ukraine can become a player in the global titanium market. It was discussed during the presentation "Battle for Titanium. Ukraine's place in the global titanium market and plans for the industry development"at Ukraine Crisis Media Center, attended by Oleksandr Fedoryshyn, Deputy Chairman of the State Property Fund, and Dimitri Kalandadze, Deputy Chairman of the Board at JSC UMCC.

Only 5% of the world's titanium raw materials are processed into metal alloys for aviation, medicine, defense technology and transportation, and remaining 95% are processed into the pigment TiO2, found in things we use every day, ranging from paper to cosmetics. Titanium raw materials, pigments, intermediates and final products are highly valued on the global market.

Historically, being a top ten producer of titanium ores, Ukraine supplied raw materials - ilmenite concentrate - to russia. However, Ukraine has every reason and opportunity to create value-added titanium products and can significantly push russia out of the global market.

"Major Western industrial players have already been working on diversifying their supply chains, meaning Ukraine has a chance to gain a strong place in the market as a titanium player and to develop this industry inside the country," noted Dimitri Kalandadze, Member of the Board, UMCC.

Creating a vertically integrated system for the production of Ukrainian titanium products will require large investments over the next 10 years. Only a strategic investor will be able to provide the UMCC with them, along with better mining and processing technologies as well as reaching global customers - the Fund believes.

UMCC is an entity to be put up for open auction by the Fund within the first wave of "large-scale" privatization.

"An asset to be put up for privatization has to be attractive for investors. It needs a clear and predictable resource base. The Fund is conducting a number of audits of all privatization objects, including the UMCC, which has two units. In this case, the resource base of the Irshansk mine is designed for another 50 years of exploitation, with another mine located nearby that can also be merged to the UMCC. The Vilnohirsk unit operates a mine with better quality raw materials, but it has been developed for a long time and its resources are being depleted. However, Vilnohirsk mining and processing plant is the key enterprise for the town with a large team. In order to preserve it, we will work to increase its resource base," noted Oleksandr Fedoryshyn, Deputy Chairman of the State Property Fund of Ukraine.

Apart from privatization of the UMCC, the Fund has a number of other tasks related to restoring the production chain of the Ukrainian titanium industry, including restarting production at Zaporizhzhya Titanium and Magnesium Plant and returning control of Sumykhimprom.