Short answer
Through a small number of dated legal acts and supply events, most of whose price effects were never measured. The best-documented money figure is a duty: since January 2025 Chinese titanium dioxide entering the EU pays 0.25 to 0.74 euros a kilogram, against an average import price of 2.24 euros in the investigation period. Other cases changed legal status without a published cost: the EU's carcinogen classification of titanium dioxide powder was adopted in 2019 and finally annulled in 2025, and a proposed ban on cadmium in artists' paints was dropped in 2015.
Titanium dioxide shows how long regulatory uncertainty can last. France proposed in 2016 that it be classified as a carcinogen by inhalation. The European Chemicals Agency's risk committee supported a suspected-carcinogen classification in 2017, and in October 2019 the Commission adopted a regulation applying it to powder forms containing 1% or more of particles of 10 micrometres or less in diameter, which brought hazard labelling with it. Manufacturers, importers and users challenged it. On 23 November 2022 the General Court annulled the classification, finding a manifest error in how a key study's reliability had been assessed, and on 1 August 2025 the Court of Justice dismissed the appeals by France and the Commission. The court's press release reports the law and not the economics: what six years of contested labelling cost paint, plastics and powder-coating makers has not been published.
Trade policy produced the hardest figures. After an investigation into dumped imports, the Commission imposed definitive anti-dumping duties on titanium dioxide from China by a regulation of 17 December 2024. Unusually, the duty is a fixed amount per kilogram, not a percentage: 0.25 euros for one producer group, 0.64 for other cooperating companies and 0.74 for the largest group and all others. The regulation's own table of Eurostat data puts the average price of the imports in the investigation period at 2.24 euros a kilogram, which gives the scale. The users' side of the argument is on the record too. Paint and ink associations said titanium dioxide was 40–50% of raw-material cost in certain formulations; the Commission, from the verified replies of two large paint makers, found the share averaged across all their paints to be much lower, and lower still as a share of total production cost. The verified numbers are confidential.
The lead chromate pigments, a yellow and a red long used in signalling paint and road markings for their brilliance and durability, were placed on the EU's list of substances needing authorisation in 2012, and have needed it since 21 May 2015. One supplier applied in November 2013, and in September 2016 the Commission authorised certain uses; 23 member states voted in favour and three against. Sweden challenged the decision. The General Court annulled it on 7 March 2019, holding that the Commission had not properly established that no suitable alternatives were available, a point underlined by the fact, recorded in the judgment, that some member states did not use the pigments for road marking at all and one had prohibited that use twenty years earlier. On 25 February 2021 the Court of Justice dismissed the Commission's appeal but ordered the decision's effects to continue until a new decision was adopted. The judgment says nothing about prices or substitution costs.
Not every proposal becomes law, and a withdrawn proposal still has an economic life while it is pending. In December 2013 Sweden proposed banning cadmium and its compounds in artists' paints across the EU, on the ground that paint washed from brushes reaches sewage sludge, farmland and food. The chemicals agency's risk committee concluded in November 2014 that the contribution of artists' paints to cadmium in soil was negligible compared with other sources, and its socio-economic committee concluded in March 2015 that the costs of the restriction were not proportional to its benefits. In October 2015 the Commission published a communication terminating the process. For nearly two years the makers and users of cadmium yellows, oranges and reds did not know whether the pigments would remain legal for that use. Cadmium remains restricted in other applications, which this page does not survey.
Some pigments are exposed because few firms or countries make them. In a proposed rule of January 2025 the US Environmental Protection Agency recorded that 603,420 pounds of C.I. Pigment Violet 29 were manufactured in the United States in 2015, by one domestic manufacturer, with one importer, and that industry had told it no suitable alternative had been found for automotive paints. The proposal would require respirators and cleaning wherever the dry powder is handled, at an estimated 1.6 to 1.7 million dollars a year. Cobalt shows the same exposure at the level of a country. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that Congo (Kinshasa) mined 73% of the world's cobalt in 2025; it banned exports in February and replaced the ban with quotas in October, and the survey links the uncertainty to a sharp rise in US imports and stocks. Pigments are a minor use of cobalt, and the effect on cobalt pigment prices is not reported.
| Year | Pigment | Event | Jurisdiction | Money figure published |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Lead chromate yellow and red | Added to the list of substances requiring authorisation | EU | None |
| 2013 | Cadmium pigments (artists' paints) | Restriction proposed by Sweden | EU | None |
| 2015 | Lead chromate yellow and red | Authorisation required from 21 May | EU | None |
| 2015 | Cadmium pigments (artists' paints) | Restriction process terminated | EU | None |
| 2016 | Lead chromate yellow and red | Certain uses authorised for one supplier | EU | None |
| 2019 | Lead chromate yellow and red | Authorisation annulled by the General Court | EU | None |
| 2019 | Titanium dioxide powder | Classified as a suspected carcinogen by inhalation | EU | None |
| 2021 | Lead chromate yellow and red | Annulment upheld; effects maintained pending a new decision | EU | None |
| 2022 | Titanium dioxide powder | Classification annulled by the General Court | EU | None |
| 2025 | Titanium dioxide | Definitive anti-dumping duties on imports from China | EU | 0.25–0.74 euros per kg |
| 2025 | Pigment Violet 29 | Workplace controls proposed | United States | $1.6–1.7 million a year (estimate) |
| 2025 | Cobalt (for cobalt pigments) | Export ban, then quotas, in Congo (Kinshasa) | World supply | None for pigments |
| 2025 | Titanium dioxide powder | Annulment of the classification upheld by the Court of Justice | EU | None |
| What it concerns | Colour or finish factor | Published figure | Where and when | Kind of evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Titanium dioxide imported into the EU from China | White pigment for paint, plastics, paper laminate and ink | 0.25 to 0.74 euros per kilogram | European Union; In force from January 2025 | Measured cost |
| Titanium dioxide imported into the EU from China | White pigment | 2.24 euros per kilogram, average import price | European Union; Investigation period preceding the 2024 measures | Measured cost |
| Paint manufacture in the EU | Titanium dioxide as a share of raw-material cost | No figure published | European Union; Investigation concluded December 2024 | Documented industry practice |
| Hazard classification of titanium dioxide powder in the EU | White pigment in powder form | No figure published | European Union; 2019–2025 | Documented industry practice |
| Lead chromate yellow and red pigments in the EU | Bright, durable yellows and reds for signalling paint and road markings | No figure published | European Union; 2012–2021 | Documented industry practice |
| Cadmium pigments in artists' paints in the EU | Cadmium yellows, oranges and reds | No figure published | European Union; Proposed December 2013; terminated October 2015 | Documented industry practice |
| C.I. Pigment Violet 29 in the United States | A perylene pigment used in automotive paint | 603,420 pounds manufactured in the United States in 2015 | United States; 2015 production data; rule proposed January 2025 | Measured cost |
| Workplace controls for dry-powder Pigment Violet 29 | A pigment handled as a fine powder | est. 1.6 to 1.7 million US dollars a year, annualised over 15 years | United States; Proposed 14 January 2025 | Measured cost |
| Mined cobalt supply | Cobalt pigments, a minor use of the metal | est. 73 % of world mined cobalt from one country | Congo (Kinshasa); world; 2025 | Measured cost |
Why: The 2019 classification of certain powder forms was annulled, finally, on 1 August 2025.
Fix: Give the dates: adopted 2019, annulled 2022, annulment upheld 2025, and say it concerned inhalable powder.
Why: The duty applies to one origin, and the pigment's share of a paint maker's costs is disputed and confidential.
Fix: Quote the duty per kilogram and the import price it applies to, and say the pass-through is not published.
Why: Proposals are withdrawn, amended or annulled, as the cadmium and lead chromate cases show.
Fix: State the stage the measure had reached on a given date and check the current position.
Each statement is labelled by kind — established fact, a standard’s requirement, observed market data, a convention, or Colourwise’s own interpretation or analysis — with the strength of the evidence behind it.
StandardStrong evidence· European Union· In force from January 2025
Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/4 of 17 December 2024 imposed definitive anti-dumping duties on titanium dioxide from China as fixed amounts of 0.25, 0.64 or 0.74 euros per kilogram depending on the producer.
Caveat: Trade measures are reviewed and can be amended; pigment for white printing inks is exempt. The current position should be checked.
Observed market dataStrong evidence· European Union· Investigation period preceding the 2024 measures
The regulation reports an average import price of 2.24 euros per kilogram for Chinese titanium dioxide in the investigation period, from Eurostat data.
Measured: Imports of titanium dioxide from China recorded by Eurostat.
Caveat: An average across grades before duty; the regulation shows it falling to about 2.17–2.18 euros in the months after the investigation opened.
StandardStrong evidence· European Union· 2019–2025
On 1 August 2025 the Court of Justice upheld the annulment of the EU classification of titanium dioxide in certain powder forms as a suspected carcinogen by inhalation, which had been adopted by Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/217 of 4 October 2019.
Caveat: From the court's press summary, which is not binding on the court.
StandardStrong evidence· European Union· 2012–2021
Lead sulfochromate yellow and lead chromate molybdate sulfate red have required EU authorisation since 21 May 2015; the Commission's 2016 authorisation of certain uses was annulled by the General Court on 7 March 2019 and the annulment was upheld on 25 February 2021, with the decision's effects maintained until a new one was adopted.
Caveat: What the Commission decided afterwards is not covered here.
StandardStrong evidence· European Union· December 2013 to October 2015
The European Commission terminated the proposed EU restriction on cadmium in artists' paints in October 2015, after the chemicals agency's committees found the risk negligible and the costs disproportionate to the benefits.
Observed market dataStrong evidence· United States· 2015 production; rule proposed January 2025
The US Environmental Protection Agency's proposed rule of 14 January 2025 on Pigment Violet 29 records 603,420 pounds manufactured in the United States in 2015 by one domestic manufacturer, and estimates compliance costs of $1.6–1.7 million a year annualised over 15 years.
Measured: Domestic manufacture reported under chemical data reporting; affected facilities in the agency's economic analysis.
Caveat: A proposal with an estimated cost at a 2% discount rate; this page does not state whether or how it was finalised.
Colourwise interpretationLimited evidence
For most of the regulatory events on this page the legal act is precisely documented and its effect on pigment prices or availability is not: only the anti-dumping duty and one proposed rule put a money figure on the measure itself.
Based on: Colourwise's reading of the court documents, Commission texts, Federal Register notice and USGS summary recorded in the observation dataset behind this page.
Caveat: Market studies of these events may exist in subscription trade services, which were not consulted.
Reviewed 6 October 2026. Colourwise summarises its sources in its own words and does not reproduce standards text or proprietary colour data. Spotted an error? Tell us.