Worldwide titanium shipments will probably fall by over 15 percent tills year, and a return to last year's level is at least two years away, according to the chief executive of tile largest US producer. But J. Landis Martin, chairman of Titanium Metals Corp, Denver, emphasised at American Metal Market's Titanium Strategies 2002 conference in Scottsdale, Arizona, last week that tile current downturn is not expected to last as long as earlier slumps. He and other executives are also looking for emerging markets to account for a larger share of tile upturn than during past cycles. "We don't see a recovery for worldwide shipments until the timeframe of 2004-2005," said Martin, addressing tile business decline brought on by a cutback ill commercial transport orders due to tile airlines' financial woes and tile aftermath of September 11's terrorist attacks.
NSTL
