An high-potential sector: titanium metal. Oligopolistic policies and technological constraints as main limit to its development

Titanium metal is still considered an almost "precious" material, a niche market to be used solely for very specific jobs, instead it could be placed, with regards to production, consumption and application, among the stainless steels and Aluminium alloys. The aim of this work is to try to analyse the reasons why there is still a considerable resistance hindering a complete dimensional development of this sector, despite a great world abundance and large geografical distribution of titanium supplies as well as the excellent performance of the material itself: production restriction and a curb on development seen as endogenous variables seem to be a typical consequence of a basically oligopolistic market with technological constraints.