Short answer
Mostly because of what the colourant is made from and how much of it the world makes. In 2025 US producers sold finished iron oxide pigment for about $1.90 a kilogram, while cobalt metal, the starting point for cobalt blues, traded at about 24 times that. Raw material is not the whole story, though: cadmium metal costs only about twice as much as iron oxide pigment, yet cadmium colours sit in paint makers' dearer price bands, which points to processing, purity and small volumes.
The U.S. Geological Survey publishes annual prices or unit values for several materials that end up as colour. Put on a common basis of US dollars per kilogram for 2025, they span two orders of magnitude. Ilmenite, the ore behind most titanium dioxide, was about $0.40. Finished iron oxide pigment sold by US producers averaged $1.90, and imported titanium dioxide pigment $3.20, about 1.7 times the iron oxide figure. Cadmium metal was $3.90. Selenium, which is added to cadmium sulfide to push its yellow towards orange and red, was $28, roughly 15 times iron oxide. Cobalt cathode was about $21 a pound, which is about $46 a kilogram. Two of these are prices of finished pigment and the others are prices of a metal or ore that still has to be turned into one, so the table compares inputs, not paint.
It is common to explain the price of cadmium red by the price of cadmium. The published figures do not support that. Cadmium metal averaged between $2.56 and $4.12 a kilogram from 2021 to 2025 — about 2.1 times the unit value of iron oxide pigment in 2025, and about the same as titanium dioxide pigment. Cadmium is a by-product of zinc smelting and most of it goes into batteries. The selenium added for the redder shades is dearer, at about $28 a kilogram, but still well below cobalt. What separates a cadmium red from an iron oxide red at the factory gate is therefore more likely to be the processing, the purity needed for a clean hue, the handling rules that apply to cadmium compounds and the very small quantities made. That last sentence is an inference from the price data, not a published cost breakdown.
Volume separates the cheap colourants from the dear ones as sharply as chemistry does. World titanium dioxide pigment capacity is about 9,900,000 tonnes a year. The carbon black industry's association puts world production at about 8.1 million tonnes, of which about 9% is used as pigment and most of the rest in rubber. The United States alone consumed an estimated 200,000 tonnes of iron oxide pigment in 2025. Against that, the whole of US imports of cadmium pigments and preparations in the same year was an estimated 170 tonnes, and exports 760 tonnes. A product made in hundreds of tonnes carries its plant, its testing and its regulatory paperwork on far fewer kilograms than one made in millions. White, black and the earth colours are cheap partly because other industries — construction, tyres, paper — pay for the scale.
Artists' paint is the one place a buyer sees pigment cost directly, because the binder and the tube are the same for every colour. Makers sort their colours into numbered price series. Golden Artist Colors states that all its paint lines are grouped into nine series, which are price categories set by the cost of the pigment in each colour, and that the three cheapest series contain no really bright red. Outside artists' materials a buyer rarely sees pigment cost itemised: a range of decorative paint or moulded goods is usually sold at one price, or in a few bands, and the differences are absorbed across the range. So the visible price of a colour depends on how a product is sold as well as on what the colourant cost.
A series number is the maker's own price band and is not comparable between brands; the pigment index name on the tube (PR101, PB28, PY35) is what identifies the colourant.
There is no public price series for most pigments. The high-performance organic pigments behind modern bright reds, violets and greens — quinacridones, perylenes, phthalocyanines and their relatives — are made by multi-step synthesis and sold under contract, and their prices appear only in subscription trade services, so none is quoted here. A metal price is also a poor guide to a pigment price: cobalt metal's US spot price ranged from about $17 to $31 a pound within five years, in a market whose leading use is lithium-ion batteries and which was disturbed in 2025 when Congo (Kinshasa), the source of about 73% of mined cobalt, suspended exports and then imposed quotas. Finally, cost and permanence do not rank the same way. Iron oxides are both the cheapest and among the most light-stable colourants; some inexpensive organic colours fade quickly; the lightfastness page explains how that is rated.
| Material | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 (est.) | What the figure is |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ilmenite concentrate | 0.6 | 0.53 | 0.39 | 0.5 | 0.4 | Bulk ilmenite and leucoxene, free on board Australia |
| Rutile concentrate | 1.3 | 1.47 | 1.46 | 1.3 | 1.14 | Bulk rutile, minimum 95% TiO2, free on board Australia, annual average |
| Iron oxide pigments (finished) | 1.03 | 1.92 | 2.03 | 1.85 | 1.9 | Average unit value of finished natural and synthetic pigment sold or used by US producers |
| Titanium dioxide pigment | 2.92 | 3.45 | 3.24 | 3.17 | 3.2 | Landed duty-paid unit value of US imports |
| Cadmium metal | 2.56 | 3.42 | 4.06 | 4.12 | 3.9 | Annual average free-market price, 99.95% purity, 10-ton lots, delivered to global ports |
| Selenium | 18.18 | 23.07 | 23.11 | 24.19 | 28 | Annual average, minimum 99.5% purity, free on board US warehouse |
| Cobalt metal | 53.37 | 67.86 | 37.92 | 36.97 | 46.3 | Annual average US spot price for cobalt cathode |
| Colourant | Quantity | What is counted | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Titanium dioxide pigment | 9,900,000 tonnes a year | World yearend capacity (USGS estimate) | 2025 |
| Carbon black, all uses | about 8,100,000 tonnes a year | World production, about 9% of it as pigment (industry association) | undated |
| Iron oxide pigments | 200,000 tonnes | US apparent consumption | 2025 (est.) |
| Cadmium pigments and preparations | 170 tonnes imported; 760 tonnes exported | US trade | 2025 (est.) |
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.
Observed market dataStrong evidence· United States· 2021–2025
Finished iron oxide pigments sold or used by US producers had an average unit value of $1.03 a kilogram in 2021 and an estimated $1.90 in 2025.
Measured: Finished natural and synthetic iron oxide pigments sold or used by US producers.
Caveat: A unit value across all grades from five companies; imports, which supply most US consumption, are not priced in the series.
Source: Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Iron Oxide Pigments
Colourwise analysisModerate evidence
In 2025 the US spot price of cobalt cathode (about $21 a pound) was about 24 times the unit value of finished iron oxide pigment per kilogram, while cadmium metal was about 2.1 times it.
Based on: USGS annual figures converted to US dollars per kilogram and divided by the iron oxide pigment unit value; see the input price table.
Caveat: Compares metals with a finished pigment. Pigment is only part metal by weight and carries processing cost, so the ratio is not the ratio of pigment prices.
Source: Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Cobalt; Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Cadmium; Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Iron Oxide Pigments
Observed market dataStrong evidence· United States· 2025 (estimated)
The United States imported an estimated 170 tonnes of cadmium pigments and preparations in 2025, against an estimated apparent consumption of 200,000 tonnes of iron oxide pigments.
Measured: Trade and apparent consumption of pigment by weight.
Caveat: Imports are not consumption: the US also exported an estimated 760 tonnes of cadmium pigments, and domestic production is not reported.
Source: Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Cadmium; Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Iron Oxide Pigments
Observed market dataModerate evidence· World
World carbon black production is about 8.1 million tonnes a year, of which about 90% is used in rubber and about 9% as pigment.
Measured: Carbon black produced, all uses.
Caveat: An industry association's undated round figure, with no method given; used for scale only.
Source: What is Carbon Black?
FactModerate evidence
Golden Artist Colors groups all its paint lines into nine price series according to the cost of the pigment in each colour, and says its three cheapest series contain no bright red.
Caveat: One manufacturer describing its own pricing; other makers use different numbers of series.
Source: Painting with GOLDEN on a Budget
Colourwise interpretationLimited evidence
Hypothesis: the price of cadmium pigments is set mainly by processing, purity requirements, regulatory handling and very small production volumes, not by the cost of cadmium metal.
Based on: Inferred by Colourwise from USGS data showing cadmium metal at $2.56–$4.12 a kilogram in 2021–2025, close to titanium dioxide pigment, together with the small tonnage of cadmium pigments traded. No published cost breakdown for a cadmium pigment was found.
Caveat: Untested. A manufacturer's cost structure is not public, and selenium content raises the raw-material cost of the redder shades.
Reviewed 1 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.