RTI extends supplier agreement

WEATHERSFIELD -- The parent company of RMI Titanium Co. has extended an agreement with a Japanese company that provides about half of RTI's titanium sponge.
RTI International Metals said Thursday that it will buy titanium sponge from Sumitomo Titanium Co. through 2016. The previous agreement ran through 2012.
Sumitomo has been a main supplier to RTI since RTI shut down its titanium sponge plant in Ashtabula in 1991.
Titanium sponge is a hard, dark gray material that's created when a chemical process is applied to titanium, which is an element found in the Earth's crust.
RMI Titanium's Weathersfield mill adds alloys to the sponge, then melts, forges and rolls the product into various shapes that are sent to other plants for further processing.
The new contract allows RTI to buy up to 13 million pounds of titanium sponge a year. Richard Leone, a company spokesman, said this is an increase over the previous contract, but the amount in the earlier contract was not publicized.
Beginning in 2009, RTI will buy at least 10 million pounds a year for five years. In later years of the contract, the quantities can be reduced through options open to both companies. Prices will be negotiated annually.