Home Depot sues TiO₂ makers

Home Depot is suing four makers of titanium dioxide in federal court to recover the high cost of paint between 2002 and 2011. The retailer alleges that DuPont, Huntsman International, Kronos Worldwide, and Millennium Inorganic Chemicals colluded to increase prices for the widely used white pigment, thus significantly raising the retailer’s cost for architectural paint. In 2013, TiO₂ makers paid multi-million dollar settlements to paint makers because of price-fixing claims. Saudi Arabia’s Cristal bought Millennium back in 2007, and DuPont spun off its TiO₂ business as Chemours a year ago.