IOL Fluorine Chemical Weekly Report: Refrigerant Market Maintains High Prosperity, Fluorinated Polymers' Mainstream Products Experience Pressured Volatility

ChinaIOL
Refrigerant: Supply-side constraints coupled with rising costs sustain high prosperity in the market
This week, the refrigerant market continued to show strength, with prices remaining firm. Weekly market highlights: Supply side: Annual production was constrained by rigid quotas, with leading companies proactively controlling output to maintain prices. Overall supply remained tight, with a prevailing sentiment of steady price increases. Cost side: Upstream raw material prices were mostly declining due to weak production and sales. Notably, the Jining Ebo plant in Inner Mongolia remained shut down, leading to reduced supply and a rapid price surge in hydrogen fluoride. Demand side: Traditional refrigeration and air conditioning sectors formed a seasonal demand base, while steady growth in the new energy sector further supported robust overall demand. Additionally, the UK delayed the F-Gas regulation cuts, and the US relaxed HFC usage restrictions, with favorable overseas policies continuing to emerge. However, the escalating U.S.-Iran conflict has increased uncertainty in future refrigerant export demand. In summary, rigid quota constraints combined with seasonal demand support make it difficult to disrupt the tight supply-demand balance in the short term, and the market is expected to maintain high-level prosperity.

ChinaIOL
Fluorine-containing polymers: Price fluctuations under pressure from rising supply-demand tensions and seasonal demand lull
This week, the fluoropolymer market faced significant supply-demand pressure, with cost support remaining relatively stable, while mainstream products operated under pressure. On the cost side, upstream core raw materials such as hydrofluoric acid and chloroform saw mixed price movements, keeping the overall cost center stable. On the supply side, manufacturers operated at high production loads, leading to increased inventory, while weak sales resulted in diminished bargaining power. On the demand side, high temperatures and the onset of the rainy season pushed market demand into an industry off-season, with relatively insufficient demand across various segments. End-user enterprises primarily adopted demand-driven procurement strategies. Notably, high-end specialized segments showed structural growth, with industries like new energy, advanced semiconductor processes, and AI computing power continuously driving the expansion of high-value fluorinated material demand. High-end products such as electronic-grade hydrofluoric acid, high-purity fluorinated specialty gases, semiconductor-grade PFA, PTFE, and AI data center liquid cooling fluorinated fluids exhibited significantly better supply-demand dynamics compared to standard-grade products. Overall, traditional product categories saw loosening cost centers and rising supply-demand pressure, while high-end fluorinated materials demonstrated relatively stronger resistance to price declines or even price increases driven by new demand in AI and semiconductor sectors.

Weekly news

01Gold and stone resources: Fluorite is one of the 36 strategic mineral resources in the country
Recently, Jinshi Resources stated in public communication with investors on investment platforms that fluorite is one of the 36 strategic mineral resources in the country. In 2025, the company's single fluorite mine produced a total of 416400 tons of fluorite powder and high-grade fluorite stone ore. The production capacity ratio of acid grade fluorite powder to high-grade fluorite stone ore is about 7:3, and the actual output in each year will slightly fluctuate on this basis. The main strategic resource currently deployed by the company is fluorite resources, with a domestic single fluorite reserve of approximately 27 million tons of ore and corresponding mineral reserves of approximately 13 million tons. Baosteel Jinshi Mineral Processing Company belongs to the comprehensive utilization of tailings resources. It currently has three production lines and processes 5 million to 6 million tons of associated fluorite tailings generated by Baosteel's daily production of iron and rare earths annually. In 2025, Baosteel Jinshi Mineral Processing will produce a total of 801100 tons of fluorite powder.

02Announcement of the 900000 tons/year fluorite mining project in Ruoqiang, Xinjiang
Recently, the Xinjiang Ecological and Environmental Protection Industry Association released the second information disclosure on public participation in the environmental impact assessment of the 900000 tons/year mining project of Gaijike Fluorite Mine in Ruoqiang County, Xinjiang Anbo Ruikang Energy Co., Ltd. The complete environmental impact assessment draft for the project has been made public and entered the stage of soliciting public opinions. The project plans to invest 483.3 million yuan, with an open-pit mining scale of 900000 tons/year for fluorite and a supporting underground mining scale of 600000 tons/year, for a total mining scale of 1.5 million tons/year.

03Fujian Bangfu Annual Production of 1500 Tons Fluorinated Fine Chemicals Project Stage Completion Acceptance
On July 13th, Fujian Bangfu New Materials Co., Ltd. announced the environmental protection acceptance information for the phased completion of the production project of 1500 tons of fluorine-containing fine chemicals and by-products annually. The actual total investment of the project is 180 million yuan, with an annual output of 250 tons of perfluorobutyl sulfonyl fluoride, 200 tons of perfluorobutyl sulfonate potassium, and related supporting facilities. The acceptance project will commence construction on March 3, 2023 and be completed on November 10, 2025. The project will be put into trial production on April 11, 2026.

04Fujian Del Fluorinated Electronic Gas and High Purity Fluorinated New Materials Project Announcement
Recently, the environmental impact assessment of the annual production of 1200 tons of fluorine-containing electronic gas and 1000 tons of high-purity fluorine-containing new materials project by Fujian Del Technology Co., Ltd. has been publicly announced on relevant websites. The project has added 1000 tons of electronic grade tetrafluoromethane, 200 tons of electronic grade nitrogen trifluoride, 150 tons of high-purity perfluorotripropylamine, 50 tons of high-purity perfluorotributylamine, 240 tons of high-purity hexafluoropropylene dimer, and 560 tons of high-purity hexafluoropropylene trimer annually; At the same time, 165.6 tons/year of hexafluoroethane (original 110.4 tons/year+newly added 55.2 tons/year) with a by-product purity of about 90% from the tetrafluoromethane production line will be used as the raw material for the existing electronic grade hexafluoroethane purification line. The heavy components mainly containing octafluoropropane in the hexafluoroethane purification line will be used as the raw material for the existing electronic grade octafluoropropane purification line, and the production of electronic grade hexafluoroethane and octafluoropropane will remain unchanged.