IOL Fluorine Chemical Weekly Report: Refrigerant Market in Off-Peak Season, Prices Remain Stable

ChinaIOL
Refrigerant: Raw material prices rise more than fall, market continues to consolidate at high levels
This week, the refrigerant market is in a slow production and sales season, with prices remaining stable. Key market characteristics during the week: Supply side: Leading manufacturers continued their production cuts to maintain prices, with the industry's operating rate for mainstream refrigerant products around 50%. Product-wise, R143a and R227ea, benefiting from increased annual quotas, remained relatively relaxed. R22, due to weak demand, faced shipment pressure, leading to a rapid price decline. Cost side: Fluorite powder and hydrofluoric acid experienced tight supply and rising prices; other basic raw material products showed decent production and sales, with more price increases than decreases, and adjustments within 10%. Demand side: Both domestic and international markets are in a slow season. In November, downstream household air conditioner production fell by 8.3% year-on-year, while the automotive industry also saw weaker production and sales. Weak demand led to sluggish transactions in the domestic market. The international market is currently in a concentrated shipment phase, but cumulative export data from January to September shows a 26% year-on-year decline in single-component HFC exports, making it difficult to reverse the slow season trend. Comprehensive forecast: The short-term market will continue to show divergence, with mainstream products consolidating at high levels and weaker varieties fluctuating narrowly, maintaining an overall weak but stable stance.

ChinaIOL
Fluorine-containing polymers: Weak demand during off-season, prices consolidate at low levels
This week, the fluoropolymer market faced significant supply-demand pressure, with differentiated trends in mainstream products. Prices hit bottom and showed limited room for further decline, with half of the products hovering near cost lines. On the cost side, prices of foundational raw materials such as calcium carbide, chloroform, and hydrofluoric acid remained firm, providing stable support for TFE series costs. Meanwhile, intermediate products like R22, R152a, and R142b faced upstream and downstream pressures but exhibited strong resistance to price declines and a strong willingness to push upward. On the supply side, leading fluoropolymer manufacturers operated at high capacity, while smaller producers maintained significantly lower utilization rates, with production schedules adjusted based on inventory and order conditions. On the demand side, in the off-season market environment, both volume and prices weakened, with end-users purchasing based on demand. Notably, structural growth was concentrated in high-end segments: advanced semiconductor processes, AI computing infrastructure, and the continued expansion of new energy drove high-value-added demand. Electronic-grade hydrofluoric acid, high-purity fluorine-containing specialty gases, semiconductor-grade PFA and PTFE, and AI data center liquid cooling fluorinated fluids—these emerging applications will create new growth opportunities for the industry. However, fluoropolymer demand remains relatively weak in the short term, and prices will continue to consolidate at low levels.

Weekly news

01 Juhua: The current R1234yf production capacity is 10000 tons per year, with 20000 tons under construction and 15000 tons planned for construction
On November 3rd, Juhua Corporation received investors for research, during which the company stated that refrigerant replacement is a long-term gradual process, influenced by safety standards, renovation costs, customer certification, etc. The company continues to track regulations and promote the cultivation of green products. The current production capacity of R290/R600a is 35000 tons per year, and the production capacity of HFO-1234yf is 10000 tons per year, with 20000 tons under construction and 15000 tons planned for construction. Before 2027, HFCs in India will not be subject to quota restrictions, but its existing production capacity is limited and internal demand growth is expected to have limited impact on global trade.

02 Chemours announces launch of Faizen ™ Two phase liquid cooling solution
On November 2nd, Chemours announced the launch of Faizeon ™ Two phase liquid cooling solution, suitable for artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance computing (HPC), and high-density data centers. The Faizen product matrix includes 5 types of low boiling point dielectric fluids, including Faizen 100, 110, 200, and 220, which are compatible with chip direct cooling plate systems and achieve chip level heat dissipation for high-power chips such as CPUs and GPUs; Faizeon500 is a two-phase immersion cooling specialized fluid that can implement immersive heat dissipation for all components of the server.

03 3M reaches settlement on PFAS related litigation
On November 3, local time, 3M Company issued a statement that it had reached a broad resolution to resolve personal injury claims related to PFAS, which was the core of the Waterforming foam Multi District Litigation ("AFFF MDL") in the Federal District Court of South Carolina. According to the agreement, 3M promises to bear a nominal pre tax compensation of $7.35 billion over a period of 9 years, with a present value of $5.8 billion for this expenditure. Previously, 3M made a commitment in 2022 to cease production of all PFAS products globally by the end of 2025, and this goal has now been achieved. This settlement is only for personal injury claims and does not involve PFAS claims related to municipal water supply. This settlement does not represent 3M's admission of legal responsibility, but rather aims to eliminate the ongoing risks brought by prolonged class action lawsuits.

04 Announcement of the Pilot Project of Fluoropolymer Ultra fine Phase Stabilizer by Juhua Group
On November 2nd, the ecological environment impact assessment information of the 300t/a ultrafine phase stabilizer pilot project of Zhejiang Juhua Hanzheng New Materials Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Juhua Group, was publicly announced. The project requires an investment of 9.4 million yuan to construct a 300t/a pilot plant for ultrafine phase stabilizers. This includes 50t/a K-type perfluoropolyether acyl fluoride and other products.