The golf industry has itself a material problem, the price of carbon is climbing quickly due to the delays and extra materials the new AirBus A380 is taking up. Driver head manufactures are in a stiff also because old USSR titanium reserves are drying up. It was at a bargain rate after the USSR fell apart but now large companies are purchasing stockpiles and sitting on it. Prices have gone up quite a bit, in some places sixfold.

While Boeing and Airbus battle to dominate the commercial aircraft market, both agree on one thing: titanium has won out over competing aluminum because its expansion and chemical properties are more compatible with composites. And that’s happening even though aerospace-grade metal distributors say the price of titanium has increased fivefold or more in the past 18 months.

"As commercial aircraft get bigger, they use more titanium and composites to add strength and reduce weight," says Robert A. Borowski, Director of Global Procurement at Titanium Metals Corp. in Denver. "Composites can corrode aluminum, but they don't corrode titanium," he tells the recent Steel and Ferroalloys Conference in Pittsburgh sponsored by Platt’s Metals Week newsletter.

Boeing delivered 290 jetliners in 2005 and expects to deliver 395 this year. The company finished 2005 with orders for 1,002 aircraft, a record. Airbus has targeted 430 plane deliveries this year, up from 378 in 2005. Each Boeing 737 jetliner, for example, uses 18 metric tons of titanium while the 787 model uses 91 metric tons. The Airbus A320 uses 12 metric tons of titanium and the A380 uses 78 metric tons.

World production of titanium set a record in 2005 at 28,000 metric tons, but consumption will grow steadily through 2011, according to analysts, because of the renewed expansion of commercial aerospace craft and jetliner manufacture. Analyst Mike Gambardella at J.P. Morgan Securities says attendees at the recent Farnborough Air Show in England presented a confidence that "despite the strong demand from aerospace over the past two years, things are likely to only get better from here, with a major pick-up in titanium demand in 2008."

The price of titanium ingot has exploded in the U.S. market to almost $28/lb. It used to cost less than $6/lb on average before the developing titanium shortage. The supply tightness is being caused by rising demand from aircraft production, for armor plate being used by U.S. forces in Iraq and for lower-grade ferrotitanium used in steelmaking. The International Titanium Association predicts that world titanium use in aircraft production alone will increase from 32,000 tons in 2004 to 53,000 tons in 2008.

Analyst Chris Olin at FTN Midwest Securities in Cleveland also believes the global titanium market can remain strong beyond 2009. "We’re seeing a very strong level of aviation and aerospace demand against a backdrop of very little investment into increasing supply," he says. "Titanium also is now seeing a huge amount of penetration into the oil and natural gas market." And the use of the metal in medical implants has been growing.

Olin believes the rise in oil and natural gas prices actually has had a positive effect on the titanium market. “In response to rising fuel prices, aerospace companies are increasing their use of lightweight materials such as titanium,” he writes. “Further, as energy exploration companies drill into deeper waters, titanium-based platforms get the nod over steel-based ones. Titanium has a longer lifecycle and is lighter, stronger and more resistant to corrosion.”

Titanium sponge, the raw material used to produce titanium mill products, is another key price driver, according to Borowski of Timet, noting that world sponge capacity is 108,000 metric tons/year—although it is expected to grow 50% in the next few years. Sponge capacity expansions are being planned by Allegheny Technologies in the U.S., Sumitomo Metals in Japan and VSMPO-Avisma in Russia. But, adding sponge capacity is expensive—it can cost about $400 million to build a 10,000 metric tocommunities/year plant—and lengthy.

Gambardella says Allegheny Technologies is spending close to $275 million to add 40 million pounds of annual titanium sponge capacity and the increase won’t become evident on the market until sometime in 2008. Expect golf club prices to rise due to what you have read above, carbon materials are getting more expensive and also Japanese forged steel prices are on the rise.

Recognized as one of Japan's most high end and biggest equipment companies, Tourstage has been a top dog in that industry for years. Known as Bridgestone in the U.S and Tourstage in Japan, the two companies have very different product lines and I would say the Japan version has the most complete line up of any golf brand worldwide. Known for their players' muscle backs, square faced drivers, and clubs geared toward good golfers. Tourstage leaves nothing in the R&D room, being one of the first golf brands to insert tungsten composite into long irons or use vibration dampening rubbers in putters, irons, and woods. In doing so, they have found the fine line between deadly classy good looks and cutting edge technology. Starting this December, Tourstage is going at it again with an almost entirely revamped product line that will be fully introduced by late February.

To view what all the rage is about click here.

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