IOL Fluorochemical Weekly Report: Refrigerant Market Transactions Improve, Fluorinated Polymer Mainstream Products Maintain Steady Production and Sales

Refrigerant: El Niño Climate Emerges, Boosting Refrigerant Price and Demand
must be translated as rainstorm.  This week, the refrigerant market saw improved transactions and maintained firm prices. Weekly market characteristics:  Supply side: Mainstream refrigerant manufacturers operated at full capacity, with no inventory pressure, resulting in an overall tight supply.  Cost side: Upstream base raw material production and sales were robust, primarily fluctuating narrowly. Due to international conflicts, imported products such as sulfur, methanol, and petroleum faced shortages and high prices.  Demand side: Recent weather patterns featured drought in the north and floods in the south, with abnormally high temperatures in the north and concentrated heavy rains in the south, aligning with early-stage El Niño characteristics. This year has entered an El Niño phase, with intensity potentially increasing during summer and autumn. The early and prolonged high temperatures, combined with rigid refrigerant quotas and low industry inventory levels, will significantly boost demand for air conditioners and maintenance services.  Overall, extreme high temperatures will drive concurrent price and volume increases for refrigerants such as R32, R410A, R134a, and R22, while the fluorine chemical industry's prosperity is expected to continue rising.

Fluorinated polymers: Strong cost support, overall favorable supply-demand dynamics, and stable price performance for now
This week, the production and sales of mainstream fluorinated polymer products remained stable, with prices holding firm under strong cost support and no significant fluctuations. On the cost side, core raw materials such as fluorite, hydrofluoric acid, and trichloroethylene maintained high prices and overall stability, with some localized price support measures still in place. On the supply side, overall inventory levels were relatively low, resulting in a roughly balanced supply-demand landscape, with high-end segments being tighter and low-end segments slightly looser. On the demand side, the fluorine materials industry is undergoing significant structural differentiation: high-end sectors benefit from strong demand in semiconductor and new energy industries, leading to a supply shortage; meanwhile, the low-end market remains locked in a "cutthroat" price competition. The industry's structural imbalance—characterized by "stable volume and price in high-end segments but flat volume and weak prices in low-end segments"—continues to be the primary driver of overall growth with profit quality divergence. In the short term, fluctuations in raw material prices and the production schedules of major manufacturers remain the key variables influencing pricing, with the fluorinated polymer market expected to maintain a "stable price and wait-and-see" stance.

Weekly News

01Sichuan Chengguang Boda 1500 ton Ice Core Immersion Liquid Cooling Liquid Project Announcement
Recently, Sichuan Chengguang Boda New Materials Co., Ltd. announced the acceptance of the environmental impact assessment for the annual 1500 ton ice core immersion liquid cooling liquid project. The project has a total investment of 150 million yuan and will be constructed in two phases. The first phase will build an 800 ton/year ice core immersion liquid cooling liquid production line, mainly relying on the key equipment of the original 300 ton/year perfluoropolyether production line, and increasing production capacity through process optimization; The second phase will add a 700 ton/year ice core immersion liquid cooling liquid production line, forming a total production capacity of 1500 tons/year ice core immersion liquid cooling liquid. The estimated construction time for the project is 18 months.

02Quzhou Jinyuan's 15000 ton/year environmentally friendly fluorinated hydrocarbon technology renovation project has been approved for environmental impact assessment
On May 20th, Quzhou Jinyuan Hongtai Refrigerant Co., Ltd.'s annual production of 15000 tons of environmentally friendly fluorinated hydrocarbons technology renovation project officially passed the environmental impact assessment approval. The project has an investment of 30 million yuan and plans to add an annual production of 4000 tons of environmentally friendly fluorinated hydrocarbons. Among them, R134a (tetrafluoroethane) increased by 3500 tons/year, R507a (pentafluoroethane/trifluoroethane mixture) increased by 500 tons/year, and R125 (pentafluoroethane) increased by 100 tons/year; At the same time, the production capacity of R143a (trifluoroethane) will be reduced by 100 tons per year. Through this adjustment, the company will ultimately achieve a total production capacity of 15000 tons of environmentally friendly fluorinated hydrocarbons per year.

03Shandong Qingyuan Fluorinated Pharmaceutical Pesticide Intermediate Project Announcement
Recently, the annual production of 392 tons of intermediates, 240 tons of pesticides, and 700 tons of by-products project of Shandong Qingyuan Nongguan Crop Science Co., Ltd. was announced on relevant websites. The project has an investment of 100 million yuan and aims to achieve an annual production capacity of 360 tons of 2-fluoro-3-propylthio-4-trifluoromethylbenzoic acid (Q142), 32 tons of 2-chloro-3-fluoro-4-trifluoromethylbenzaldehyde (Q024), 100 tons of dichloroisoxazone (Q922), 50 tons of metoclopramide (Q515), 50 tons of chlorofluazuron ester (Q153), 20 tons of fluorofluazuron ether (Q751), 10 tons of fluorofluazuron ester (Q916), 10 tons of trifluoromethylfluazuron ester (Q919), as well as by-products of 500 tons of potassium chloride, 115 tons of potassium fluoroaluminate, and 85 tons of lithium chloride.

04Jiangxi Zhongfeng Chemical Fluorinated Fine Chemicals Perfluorinated Resin Series Renovation Project Announcement
On May 11th, the People's Government of Ganzhou City announced that the Environmental Impact Assessment Report for the renovation project of the perfluorinated fine chemical perfluorinated ester series products of Zhongfeng Chemical Huichang (major changes re approved) will be accepted for public announcement. The project has an investment of 55 million yuan and relies on the existing fine building and esterification workshop to design an annual output of 1500 tons of fluorinated reagents, 1000 tons of hexafluoropropylene oligomers, 1000 tons of special hydrofluoroether-784N, and 980 tons of perfluoroester series products, totaling 4480 tons. 4400 tons/year of hexafluoropropylene products will be cancelled.