IOL Fluorine Chemical Weekly Report: Refrigerant Market Consolidates at High Levels, Absorbing Previous Gains

Refrigerant: Market consolidates at high levels with strong wait-and-see sentiment
This week, the refrigerant market continued to operate at high levels, digesting previous price increases. Weekly market characteristics:  **Supply side**: Refrigerant plants operated at normal effective capacity, with inventory at historically low levels, resulting in industry-wide supply constraints.  **Cost side**: Upstream raw material production and sales remained generally stable, with prices fluctuating narrowly. Hydrofluoric acid, in particular, faced high cost pressures, leading to strong factory hoarding sentiments and widespread "market without price" phenomena. Refrigerant costs remained robustly supported.  **Demand side**: Entering the second quarter, as weather warms, cooling equipment such as air conditioners and automobiles will enter a peak consumption season. Domestic production, sales, and after-sales refilling demand are expected to further expand, with the market likely to maintain a steady growth trend. However, current international conflicts have exerted some negative impact on foreign trade demand.  Overall, cost-driven factors and supply constraints converged, and with improving demand, the refrigerant market is set to sustain its high-activity trend.

This week, the fluoropolymer market was strongly supported by cost factors, with increased factory supply and slow demand recovery. Under the combined influence of cost, supply, and demand, mainstream products remained stable. Specifically, cost fluctuations in oil, natural gas, and sulfur prices drove联动 in related raw material prices such as methanol, sulfuric acid, and chloroform, leading to a significant rise in monomer costs. On the supply side, rising product prices stimulated factory production enthusiasm, resulting in a notable increase in supply from various manufacturers. On the demand side, most application industries primarily relied on essential needs, with weak demand recovery. Overall, the upward momentum in fluoropolymer market costs has slowed in the short term, while weak supply-demand dynamics limit favorable price trends. After a sharp price increase, the market may consolidate before entering a phase of price digestion.

Weekly news
01The trial production of the 15000 ton AHF project at Zhonghua Wuhuan Xiangyun has been successfully completed
On April 11th, the annual production of 15000 tons of anhydrous hydrogen fluoride unit by ChemChina Wuhuan Xiangyun Phosphorus Fluorine New Materials (Hubei) Co., Ltd. was successfully completed with full process feeding and one-time trial production, successfully producing high-quality products with a purity of 99.9%. As a provincial-level key construction project in Hubei Province, the Anhydrous Hydrogen Fluoride Project of China National Chemical Corporation's Wuhuan Xiangyun Phosphorus Fluorine New Material adopts a complete set of technology independently developed by China National Chemical Corporation's Wuhuan Engineering Co., Ltd. The project uses fluorosilicic acid, a by-product of wet process phosphoric acid, as raw material to achieve the resource recycling and reuse of industrial waste.

02Announcement on Prohibiting the Production of Multi Unit Air Conditioning (Heat Pump) Units Using HCFC-22 as a Refrigerant
On April 10th, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment issued a letter soliciting opinions on the "Notice on Prohibiting the Production of Multi Unit Air Conditioning (Heat Pump) Unit Products Using Chlorodifluoromethane (HCFC-22) as a Refrigerant (Draft for Comments)". The relevant announcement is as follows: 1. Starting from January 1, 2027, the production of multi unit air conditioning (heat pump) units using HCFC-22 as refrigerant is prohibited. 2、 The multi split air conditioning (heat pump) unit products applicable to this announcement include the multi split air conditioning (heat pump) units or systems specified in the standards in the attachment. The list of applicable standards for the product scope includes: GB/T 18837, GB/T 25857, JB/T 11966, JB/T 14064.

03Daikin Fluorochemical Battery Materials and PFA Recycling Project Completed Acceptance
On April 13th, Daikin Fluorochemicals (China) Co., Ltd. announced the acceptance of its battery technology and PFA recycling research and development project. The project has an investment of 13.5 million yuan and will carry out research and development projects on battery technology and PFA recycling in existing laboratories. The annual research and development volume of dry electrode plate process development will not exceed 1000kg, the annual research and development volume of battery electrode plate thick coating process development will not exceed 500kg, and the annual research and development volume of PFA granulation recycling process development will not exceed 2000kg. Various performance indicators of the research and development products will be tested.

04Dongyue, Changlu, Zhonghao Chengguang and other enterprises have been shortlisted for the innovation task of key fine chemical products
On April 13th, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced the list of key product innovation tasks for fine chemicals, and selected 111 shortlisted units. The shortlist is divided into three categories: intermediate raw materials, key materials, and critical equipment. Intermediate raw materials include liquid crystal polymer monomers, high-end polyimide raw materials, etc. Key materials include high and low temperature resistant fluorinated rubber, fluorinated ether lubricating oil, etc. Key equipment includes special reactors, polymerization kettles, purification equipment, etc. The leading units for the unveiling team of "high and low temperature resistant fluorinated rubber" are Zhonghao Chengguang Chemical Research Institute Co., Ltd. and Zhejiang Jusheng Fluorochemical Co., Ltd; The leading units of the "Fluoroether Lubricant" unveiling team are Sinopec Lubricants Co., Ltd., Shandong Dongyue Polymer Materials Co., Ltd., and Tianjin Changlu Chemical New Materials Co., Ltd.