How to turn the West’s dependence on titanium into a Ukrainian technological advantage
The global security architecture is undergoing tectonic shifts. Advanced Western industries and defence sectors are facing a critical vulnerability: deep dependence on China for the supply and processing of strategic materials.
Beijing controls a significant share of global extraction and has virtually monopolised the processing of titanium, gallium, germanium and rare earth elements. Without these materials, it is impossible to manufacture modern weapons, aircraft engines or missile guidance systems.
China has repeatedly demonstrated its readiness to use this dependency as a tool of political pressure. As a result, control over supply chains is no longer merely an economic matter — it has become an issue of national security.
While Western countries search for diversification strategies that require time and billions in investment, a unique window of opportunity is opening for Ukraine.
The Cost of Lost Opportunities: from Raw Materials to Finished Products
The paradox is that, despite holding 20% of the world’s titanium ore reserves, Ukraine remains primarily a raw-material exporter. We sell concentrate while leaving most of the profits from value-added products — and the jobs needed to produce them — to others.
Our Titanium Case Study shows how inefficient this model is. In June 2025, a tonne of ilmenite concentrate cost USD 270. From this, one can produce titanium sponge worth USD 6,300 (23 times more). And final products for the aerospace or space sectors can exceed USD 100,000 per tonne (370 times more).
This is the price of Ukraine’s lost opportunities.
From Theory to Practice: National Priority and International Experience
The issue has been recognised at the state level. The Government’s Action Plan includes objectives aimed at the effective use of domestic resources. The steps set for completion by the end of 2025 include: creating CRM clusters for titanium and lithium, funding geological exploration, and relaunching the mechanism of production-sharing agreements (PSAs).
How can this plan be implemented? International experience offers a clear answer: industrial clusters. These are ecosystems that integrate extraction, processing, research and logistics, while incentivising investors through tax benefits, special regulatory regimes and infrastructure.
For example, within just a decade, Indonesia transformed itself from an exporter of raw nickel into one of the world’s leading producers, doubling the mining sector’s contribution to GDP.
A Roadmap for Action
Our research on the titanium industry serves as an analytical roadmap for building Ukraine’s first industrial cluster. Now is the optimal moment to give real substance to the US–Ukraine Strategic Partnership on Critical Minerals and to implement the EU Critical Raw Materials Act.
For Western partners, this is a ready-made investment atlas that can help reduce dependence on China. For Ukraine, it is an opportunity to attract capital, technology and build a full production cycle on its own territory.
What is a problem for the West can become a solution for Ukraine. Developing deep processing of critical minerals is a pilot project for revitalising Ukrainian industry — one that will strengthen national resilience and form part of the foundation of the West’s defence architecture.
Source (in Ukrainian): https://epravda.com.ua/biznes/titanova-strategiya-ukrajini-814128/