Fluorochemical Weekly Report: Top Enterprises Difficulty in Production R143a Leading Refrigerant Growth

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One week market

Refrigerant: Clear competitive landscape with limited supply to support price exploration and operation

This week, due to factory production cuts and price hikes, mainstream refrigerant prices have rapidly increased. Weekly market characteristics: The overall transaction of upstream basic raw material products such as sulfuric acid, calcium carbide, and liquid chlorine has improved, and prices have all risen within a narrow range; Methanol and methane chlorides have experienced a narrow decline in prices due to weak downstream demand; The prices of other raw materials are operating steadily, and the fluctuation of raw material prices on the cost side is relatively small, which has little impact on the cost of refrigerants. As the end of the year approaches, the domestic and foreign sales orders for refrigerants are coming to an end, and overall production and sales are relatively weak with fewer actual transactions. However, according to the HFCs refrigerant quota implementation plan released by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment on November 6, the competitive landscape of various refrigerant products in 2024 is clear. Whether top enterprises produce normally will have a significant impact on the supply and demand pattern. It is worth noting that R143a in the month is due to the abnormal production of top enterprises, The shortage of goods has led to a significant jump in prices, with an increase of about 63%, and the prices of related mixed refrigerants have also increased simultaneously. Affected by the strong expectation of industry supply reduction next year, some factories have suspended quotations and orders, arranged inventory in advance, and have strong confidence in boosting prices. It is expected that the overall tight supply will support the operation of price exploration in the future.

Fluorinated polymers: weak supply and demand, combined with lower costs, will mainly lead to weak consolidation in the future market

This week, the cost of fluorinated polymers in the market has not changed much, and the supply and demand relationship has continued to be loose. Downstream application industries are unlikely to improve in the short term, which determines that the production and sales situation of mainstream fluorinated polymers is difficult to be optimistic in the short term, and prices will remain mainly bleak. From a product perspective, the prices of the main monomer raw material product R22 are temporarily stable, while the price of R142b fluctuates downward, which determines the stable cost support of the TFE series and the weakened cost support of the VDF series. Considering that the mainstream fluoropolymer product prices have continued to hit the bottom and have reached a low level, the future market is in a dilemma of ups and downs, with limited room for volatility. The weak and stable market trend of multiple factor games will continue.

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Weekly News

Refrigerant

Meilan Group launches the fourth generation refrigerant industry chain project

On November 17th, the fluorine containing new materials and environmentally friendly refrigerant industry project of Jiujiang Jiuhong New Materials Co., Ltd. was completed and filed.

The construction scale includes: a 20000 ton/year pentachloropropane plant; 5000 tons/year R1233zd device; 5000 tons/year R1234ze device; 20000 tons/year R1234yf unit; 28000 tons/year R22 (difluorochloromethane) unit; 40000 tons/year anhydrous calcium chloride plant; 150000 tons/year ion exchange membrane caustic soda unit (the caustic soda production capacity of this project will be transferred equally); 100000 tons/year 50% ion exchange membrane caustic soda (converted to 100%) evaporation device; 200000 tons/year ultra-high purity methane chloride unit; 60000 tons/year carbon tetrachloride conversion unit; 100000 tons/year hydrochloric acid (sulfuric acid method) deep analysis unit and supporting public engineering facilities.

According to the data, Jiujiang Jiuhong New Materials Co., Ltd. is a controlling subsidiary of Jiangsu Meilan Chemical Co., Ltd.

Lianchuang Co., Ltd.: has a production capacity of 10000 tons of fourth generation refrigerants, and another 10000 tons of production capacity will be released in 2025

On November 27th, when answering questions from investors, Lianchuang Group stated that regarding the quota for the company's third-generation refrigerant, as it is currently in the quota issuance stage, according to the requirements of relevant national departments, it needs to wait for the Ministry of Ecology and Environment to release unified data.

The company has a relatively early and strong layout in the fourth generation refrigerant field: currently, it has a production capacity of tens of thousands of tons and a relatively mature level of industrialization, gradually releasing production capacity according to market conditions; The second step of the plan is to expand production by 10000 tons through technological transformation. The project proposal has been approved, and the device renovation design is currently underway. It is planned to have the conditions for operation in the first half of 2025; The third step of the plan will continue to expand production based on the resource allocation required by the local project, and the overall production capacity will gradually reach the level of 30000 to 50000 tons.

Zhongxin Fluorine Materials: The fourth generation refrigerant of the company has started trial production and is about to be launched on the market

On November 9th, Zhongxin Fluorine Materials stated during the resumption of investor inquiries that the company's fourth generation refrigerant is currently undergoing customer testing and certification, and will gradually be launched into the market after completion.

According to previous reports from Zhongxin Fluorine Materials, the production process technology of the fourth generation refrigerant project company is the company's own technology. In addition to the quota sales volume, the majority of the company's R245fa production is raw materials for the company's future fourth generation refrigerants. But the fourth generation refrigerant project was supposed to be put into operation in the first half of this year, and the production date has been postponed to within 2023.

Fluorinated polymers

Inner Mongolia Raymond Shengfeng 6600 tons of fine chemical products

On November 20th, the Ecological Environment Bureau of Alxa League in Inner Mongolia announced the annual production of 6600 tons of fine chemical products by Inner Mongolia Raymond Shengfeng Technology Co., Ltd. According to the public announcement, the project will rearrange the original factory building of Phase I Workshop 4, and build production lines for four products in this phase. The construction scale is to produce 5000 tons of sodium tert butanol, 1000 tons of potassium tert butanol, 300 tons of 4-biphenyl, and 300 tons of pyrrolidone, with a total annual production of 6600 tons of fine chemical products. The total investment of the project is 68.442 million yuan, of which 5.8 million yuan is for environmental protection, accounting for 8.47% of the total investment.

Jiangsu Upu Biotech's annual production of 1800 tons of 2,6-dichloro-4-trifluoromethylaniline project

On November 15th, the Administrative Approval Bureau of Nantong City announced the Jiangsu Youpu Biological 2,6-Dichloro-4-trifluoromethylaniline and its renovation and expansion project. The announcement showed that the project is located in Yangkou Chemical Industrial Park (West District), Rudong County, and plans to carry out technical transformation of the production equipment of the existing 2,6-Dichloro-4-trifluoromethylaniline workshop in the existing factory area. After the technological transformation, the production capacity of 2,6-dichloro-4-trifluoromethylaniline has been increased from the existing 1800 tons/year to 3000 tons/year. The newly added 1200 tons of production capacity will be used for supporting the downstream product of the enterprise, arylpyrazonitrile, and will not be sold externally. The maximum external sales volume of this product will remain unchanged, not exceeding 1370.2 tons/year, of which the production capacity for supporting the local area will not be less than 370.2 tons.