Pigments · Colour Index · From China
The colour you sign off on a sample only ever covers the first batch. The real disaster comes with the second — a red that drifts half a tone onto a coloured pavement or a wall you've already laid halfway. Nobody demolishes finished work over a certificate. So we never sell iron oxide by the colour number alone — we lock your shade to a retained master standard and hold every future lot to a measured ΔE before it ships.
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Why Iron Oxide Buying Is Different
Most sourcing risk shows up on day one — a weak grade, a wrong spec, something you catch before you build with it. Iron oxide pigment fails later, and worse. The sample you approved and the first container that matched it were never the hard part. The hard part is the second, third and tenth batch — a coloured concrete job, a run of roof tiles, a rendered façade is laid over weeks, and a red or black that drifts even slightly between deliveries leaves a visible seam down the middle of finished work. There is no partial refund from physics: half a pavement is already down, and matching it means demolition, not a discount.
So this page is built around the two things that protect a colour job: the colour-index master table below, which gets you to the exact shade and the right chemistry, and the tinting-strength maths that stops a "cheaper" pigment quietly costing you more per batch — both held in place by a retained-master ΔE lock, lot after lot.
Red · Yellow · Black · Brown · Specials
Find your shade family on the left. The colour numbers (110, 130, 190…) are the industry-standard tones behind each Colour Index name — read across for synthetic or natural, typical tinting strength, weather and alkali fastness, and the jobs each is built for. Swatches are indicative; your own colour card settles the exact tone.
| Shade & colour index | Synthetic / natural | Typical tinting strength | Weather & alkali fastness | Best-fit applications |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Red 110 CI Pigment Red 101 light, yellowish red |
Synthetic | ~100–105% · reference-class | Excellent / excellent | Concrete pavers, coloured mortar, architectural paint |
| Red 130 CI Pigment Red 101 the industry blue-red benchmark |
Synthetic | 100% · the usual reference tone | Excellent / excellent | Coloured concrete, roof & paving tiles, block, paint |
| Red 190 CI Pigment Red 101 deep bluish red |
Synthetic | High | Excellent / excellent | Premium coatings, plastics masterbatch, high-grade concrete |
| Yellow 313 CI Pigment Yellow 42 clean bright yellow (FeO·OH) |
Synthetic | Moderate–high | Good (to ~180 °C) / excellent | Pavers, renders, paint, block, coloured mortar |
| Yellow 920 CI Pigment Yellow 42 deeper reddish yellow |
Synthetic | High | Good / excellent | Concrete, mortar, tinting bases |
| Black 330 CI Pigment Black 11 standard black (Fe₃O₄) |
Synthetic | Very high | Excellent in concrete (thermal limit ~150 °C in plastics) / excellent | Pavers, roof tiles, mortar, block, plastics |
| Black 722 CI Pigment Black 11 micronised, easy-dispersing |
Synthetic | Very high · fine particle | Excellent / excellent | Paint, high-end coatings, jetting-quality masterbatch |
| Brown 610 / 686 CI Pigment Brown 6 blend of red + yellow + black |
Synthetic blend | Moderate | Excellent / excellent | Pavers, roof tiles, coloured mortar, renders |
| Natural red / brown CI Pigment Red 102 · Brown 7 ochre / micaceous ore |
Natural | Lower & more variable | Excellent / excellent | Economy concrete & renders where the exact tone is not critical |
| Green & Blue CI Pigment Green 17 · Blue 29 / 15 chromium oxide · ultramarine / phthalo |
Special — not iron oxide | Varies by chemistry | Green excellent; ultramarine blue is alkali-sensitive in concrete | Concrete & coatings — supplied alongside for a full colour room |
Greens and blues are made from chromium oxide, ultramarine or phthalo — not iron oxide — so we flag the alkali limit of ultramarine before you put it in cement. Everything ships in one consolidated container.
Send your colour number — we'll match the shadeSee The Actual Product
The Material
Red, yellow and black iron oxide — colour index and tinting strength, held to a master.
How It Ships
Palletised bags by colour number, ΔE-checked before they leave.
In Use
Locked shade across every batch of pavers, tiles and render.
Tinting-Strength Economics
Tinting strength is how much colour a pigment actually delivers per kilo. Two reds both stamped "Iron Oxide Red 130" can differ 10% in strength — and the weaker one is almost always the cheaper quote. Because you dose by target shade, not by the tonne, a weaker pigment silently pulls more powder out of the bag to hit the same colour.
Here is the sum the ton price hides — an algorithm, not a price list. Plug in your own numbers; call one supplier's price per tonne P.
— Matt, XILINK founder · 13 years sourcing & exporting industrial products from China
Get A Measured Tinting StrengthSupplier A — the stronger red
Tinting strength 105% · quoted price
Supplier B — the "bargain" red
Tinting strength 95% · quoted 5% cheaper
Powder needed for your locked shade
Dose runs inverse to strength → A uses 0.95 units, B uses 1.05 units (≈ 10% more pigment)
Real cost per finished batch
Dose × price · A = 0.95 × P · B = 1.05 × 0.95 P
The "5% cheaper" red, per batch of colour
Same shade, more powder, higher true cost
This is why we quote against a measured tinting strength and print it on the COA — so you can run this sum yourself instead of trusting a per-tonne headline.
Lock The Shade, Lot After Lot
This is the whole discipline of buying pigment for a colour job: prove the tone in your own product first, freeze it as a physical master, then measure every future lot against that master instead of trusting "looks the same." For coloured concrete a cross-batch ΔE of roughly ≤ 1 is invisible on the wall; we hold to a ceiling you set and reject anything above it.
Physical colour cards first
We courier real colour cards and small pigment samples so you dose the shortlisted shades into your own concrete, render or paint before committing.
Approve & retain a master
The shade you sign off becomes the master standard. Both sides keep a sealed, dated portion — the reference every future lot answers to.
Colorimeter, not eyeballs
Every new lot is read against the master on a colorimeter under one controlled light — not window light, not "looks fine on the tile."
ΔE on every COA
The measured ΔE against your master goes on each lot's COA, alongside the tinting strength, held under the ceiling you set.
Out of tolerance never ships
Any lot over your ΔE ceiling is rejected before it leaves the plant — so a drifted red is caught in China, not on the half-laid pavement.
A third-party pre-shipment inspection can repeat the ΔE and tinting-strength checks and confirm bag counts before your balance payment.
Set a ΔE ceiling on your colourReading The Quotes
Two quotes for "iron oxide red, 25 kg bags" can sit far apart and both be honest — because "iron oxide" is a whole colour range, not one product. The shade family sets the floor: reds, yellows and blacks are not priced alike. On top of that ride the tinting strength, whether the pigment is synthetic or natural, and whether it has been quietly extended with filler to lower the assay. A quote that looks impossibly cheap for the shade you asked for usually means a lower tinting strength or a diluted bag — the sum in the section above.
We quote against your locked colour number and a measured tinting strength, name the factory, and put both on the COA — so you compare the same pigment, not the same three-digit shade code.
Send Your Colour Index & Volume — Reference Price In 24hThe four levers behind every iron oxide quote
Shade family
Red, yellow, black and brown carry different production costs; specialised deep or clean tones cost more than the standard reference shade.
Tinting strength
A 105%-strength red genuinely costs more to make than a 95% one — and, as the maths showed, is usually cheaper per batch. Pay for strength, not tonnage.
Synthetic vs natural & weather grade
Synthetic oxides are cleaner and more consistent than natural ores; weather-fast micronised grades for coatings sit above basic concrete grades.
Filler extension
The cheapest "pigment" is cut with barite or calcium carbonate to lower the assay — a bargain per tonne that costs more per unit of real colour.
What We Ship
The CAS number depends on the colour — reds, yellows and blacks are chemically different iron compounds, so we list them honestly rather than force one number onto the range. Every lot ships with a COA carrying the measured tinting strength and the ΔE against your retained master, plus the production date on the bags.
You don't have to fill a container with one colour. A trial order of iron oxide pigment from 1 ton rides alongside titanium dioxide and other colourants in the same box — one container, one set of documents, one bill of lading to your port, in Central Asia, South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa or Southeast Asia alike.
Building a full colour room? See the whole pigments & fillers range we consolidate from China.
| Red — CAS / index | Fe₂O₃ · CAS 1309-37-1 · CI Pigment Red 101 (110 / 130 / 190) |
| Yellow — CAS / index | FeO(OH) · CAS 51274-00-1 · CI Pigment Yellow 42 (313 / 920) |
| Black — CAS / index | Fe₃O₄ · CAS 1317-61-9 · CI Pigment Black 11 (330 / 722) |
| Brown | Blend · CI Pigment Brown 6 (610 / 686) |
| Source | Synthetic (default) or natural ochre / micaceous, by grade |
| Tinting strength | Measured per lot vs your reference · printed on the COA |
| Fastness | Weather-fast & alkali-resistant to fresh concrete · heat resistance by shade |
| Appearance | Fine free-flowing powder · micronised grades on request |
| Packaging | 25 kg laminated / paper-plastic bags, PE-lined · palletised & shrink-wrapped or floor-loaded to suit your port |
| Trial order | From 1 ton · consolidates with titanium dioxide & other pigments in one container |
| Documents | Per-lot COA (tinting strength, ΔE) · MSDS · third-party inspection on request |
Straight Answers
Tell us the end use and the tone and we point you to the family first. Coloured concrete pavers, roof tiles and mortar mostly run on Red 130, Yellow 313/920, Black 330 and Brown blends — all weather-fast and alkali-resistant. Coatings and plastics often want the deeper Red 190 or micronised Black 722. Send a sample or a colour code and we shortlist the exact numbers, then prove them on a colour card in your own product before you order.
The shade you approve becomes a retained master standard, sealed and dated on both sides. Every future lot is read against it on a colorimeter under one controlled light, and the measured ΔE goes on the lot's COA under a ceiling you set — for coloured concrete a cross-batch ΔE of roughly ≤ 1 is invisible on the wall. Anything over your ceiling is rejected before it ships, so a drifted red is caught in China, not halfway across a finished pavement.
Tinting strength is measured against a reference pigment and written on every lot's COA, not just claimed. A weak pigment makes you dose more powder to hit the same shade, so a "5% cheaper" red can cost about 10% more per finished batch — which is why the number matters more than the tonne price. On request an independent third-party lab confirms the strength and the ΔE before your balance payment, while the goods are still in China.
Trial orders start from 1 ton. Iron oxide pigment consolidates with titanium dioxide and other pigments in one container, under one set of documents, so a first order can be a mixed pallet-load that lets you validate the shade and the supply chain before committing to volume. Common shades are usually produced within 7–15 days of order confirmation; ocean transit depends on your route and is confirmed with the quote.
Matched, Locked, Loaded
Tell us the shade — a colour number, a code, or a sample photo — plus the use and quantity. We reply within 24 hours with the matched iron oxide grades, a physical colour-card plan and the current-month reference price.
Physical colour cards & retained-master ΔE lock before any container
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