Defence cuts hit Titanium

Posted in Industry News on 17th October 2011

William Rowland are a leading supplier of Titanium.

Titanium - F22 Raptor

Shrinking budgets and defence cuts are set to negatively impact titanium demand volume as customers are now looking to reduce cost by reducing buying weight affecting both military aircraft and land vehicles.

With a hole being blown in the US military budget, production of the most titanium intensive fighter jets - the F-22 Raptor which requiring approximately 80,000 lbs of titanium buy weight per plane is winding down in the first quarter of 2012.

However, despite this Demand for titanium is still set to grow by volume, with RTI estimating demand from the global defence industry at 41-41 million lb of titanium mill products in 2015, up from 35 million lb this year and estimated 37 million lb in 2012.

Although this market will have a very different geographic split compared with the post-Gulf War period dominated by the US, British and NATO defence spending. Of the just over 31 million lb titanium consumption by the defence industry in 2010 RTI estimated that US/NATO countries accounted for 19.1 million lb, or roughly two-thirds of the total. The Russian military demand made up another 6.6 million lb, followed by China at 5.5 million lb. Turning to 2015, with projected demand in excess of 41 million lb, and the geopolitical shift eastwards will be remarkable, according to Hickton's projections. The demand picture is seen dominated by China, requiring 12 million lb of titanium mill products, while US/NATO demand will edge up by a smaller margin to 22.8 million lb, with Russia almost stable at 6.7 million lb in 2015.  This shift is driven very clearly by a shift in defence spending, with China defence budget rising by 142%, while NATO budgets are seen dropping, including by 14% in the US, 11% in the UK and 21% in Germany.

Questions still hang over the US military spending in the coming year, with potential threat to domestic titanium demand should the six Republicans and six Democrats on the Senate Super-Committee fail to approve $600 billion defence spending.

William Rowland Ltd are titanium suppliers, and if you would like to find out how we can meet your requirements, please contact us using the Quick Enquiry Form on the right-hand side of this website.

- -

Source: MetalNews

Tags: Metal Powders News, Titanium News