The polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) market is highly concentrated and the high-end competitiveness of local enterprises needs to be improved.

Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), also known as Teflon, is a polymer made by polymerizing tetrafluoroethylene as a monomer. PTFE appears as a white solid, is non-toxic, odorless, resistant to high temperatures, anti-aging, and corrosion-resistant, and is almost insoluble in all solvents. The preparation methods of polytetrafluoroethylene include emulsion polymerization and suspension polymerization.

According to the “2022-2027 China Polytetrafluoroethylene Product Market Analysis Feasibility Research Report released by the Industrial Research Center, after After years of development, my country has become a major producer and consumer of polytetrafluoroethylene. According to statistics from the China Fluorosilicone Organic Materials Industry Association, my country’s polytetrafluoroethylene production capacity will reach 188,000 tons/year in 2021, a year-on-year increase of 24.8%, accounting for 60.8% of the world’s total production capacity. At present, my country’s PTFE companies focus on the production and manufacturing of mid-to-low-end PTFE. The problem of product homogeneity is more serious, resulting in high-end products being in short supply and being highly dependent on imports.

Fluorite and concentrated sulfuric acid are the main raw materials for the preparation of polytetrafluoroethylene. Fluorite is a scarce resource, but my country has a vast territory and rich fluorite resources, and its output ranks first in the world. According to statistics from the China Fluorosilicone Organic Materials Industry Association, my country’s fluorspar output will reach 5.40 million tons in 2021. As an important raw material for fluorine chemical products, the output of fluorite continues to increase, but it is still unable to meet the demand of the downstream market. In addition, the price of fluorite has been running at a high level for a long time, which has further intensified the supply tension of polytetrafluoroethylene in my country.

​​ PTFE is widely used in chemical industry, aerospace, machinery and equipment, medical and health care, etc. The chemical industry is the largest demand side for polytetrafluoroethylene, accounting for 50.0% of the total demand. PTFE has stable chemical properties and can be used as engineering plastic raw materials to manufacture valves, steam pipes, high, medium and low pressure pipes, exhaust pipes and other products. According to statistics from the China Plastics Industry Association, my country’s demand for engineering plastics will reach 6.65 million tons in 2021, a year-on-year increase of 6.1%. In this context, the polytetrafluoroethylene industry will gain broad space for development.

In terms of market competition, my country’s leading PTFE companies include Juhua, Haohua Technology and Dongyue Group. Among them, Dongyue Group occupies nearly 30.0% of the Chinese market and ranks first in the industry in terms of production capacity. Overseas brands occupy a monopoly position in my country’s high-end PTFE market, including Thermo Fisher of the United States, Asahi Glass of Japan, DuPont of the United States, etc.

Industry analysts said that polytetrafluoroethylene is known as the “King of Plastics” and is widely used in the chemical industry. With the market demand Gradually released, the scale of my country’s polytetrafluoroethylene industry is expected to further expand. my country is a major producer and consumer of polytetrafluoroethylene. However, due to factors such as high technical barriers, supply and demand in the high-end product market are tight, and there is a high degree of dependence on imports. Driven by the technological innovation of leading enterprises, my country’s PTFE import substitution process will continue to accelerate.