Multiple projects are coming online in a concentrated manner! PVDF production capacity is expanding rapidly, with oversupply in the low-end segment and shortages in the high-end segment.

The domestic expansion wave continues to spread: The expansion project of Shandong Deyi New Materials (10,000 tons VDF + 5,000 tons PVDF) has entered the proposed approval stage to the Dezhou environmental impact assessment. After expansion, the total capacity will rise to 25,000 tons/year; Yonghe Shares is accelerating the construction of its 20,000 tons/year PVDF supporting 40,000 tons VDF project at its Inner Mongolia base, planning to discharge new capacity in 2026.

Overseas giants are doubling down on the Chinese market. Arkema has finalized a capital expenditure of 600 million euros, expanding the capacity of its Kynar series PVDF in Changshu by 20%, with production expected in 2028, while its Calvert City plant in the U.S. is simultaneously planning a 15% expansion. At the 2026 CIBF exhibition, Arkema launched PVDF items dedicated to dry electrodes and sulfide solid electrolyte membranes, aiming at the next-generation power battery track.

Capacity Details of Domestic PVDF Leading companies (10,000 tons/year)

I. A Multi-Billion Market Continues to Expand, Domestic Capacity Accounts to Over 60% Globally

Data calculations show that in 2025, the global PVDF market size will be 8.019 billion yuan, with the domestic market size at 2.159 billion yuan; institutions predict the global market size will climb to 13.423 billion yuan by 2032, offering broad prolonged development space to the sector.

In terms of supply pattern, China has have become the core gathering place to global PVDF capacity. In 2025, the nominal efficiently capacity of the domestic sector is about 180,000 tons/year, while global annual consumption is 247,800 tons, with China's capacity share exceeding 60%. Benefiting from the expansion of demand in lithium batteries, photovoltaics, and semiconductors, new, renovated, and expanded domestic capacities have been intensively released in recent years, and the sector has entered a cycle of high-speed capacity expansion.

II. Structural Differentiation in Operating Capacity Rates: Low-End Overcapacity Emerging, Leading companies at Full Capacity, Small and Medium Capacities Idle

· Rapid capacity discharge has spawned a clear pattern of differentiation: The average operating rate of the domestic PVDF sector in 2025 was 72%, a decline from 78% in 2023, as the digestion of new low-end capacity fell short of expectations; in the first quarter of 2026, the overall sector operating rate was just over 85%, however leading high-condition companies achieved a capacity utilization rate of around 90%, while low-grade general materials gradually fell into overcapacity.

· The sector summarizes the current status: Total capacity is loose, while high-end efficiently supply is tight; ordinary coating products and injection molding grade items are overcapacity, while lithium battery grade and semiconductor grade high-end grades are in short supply.

III. Dual-Track Market Prices: Domestic Quotes Stable, Imported High-End items Command Premiums of 2-3 Times

In the first half of 2026, the PVDF market formed a differentiated direction of "stable domestic prices, high imported prices":

1. Domestic Quotes by Grade: Lithium battery grade 57,000～65,000 yuan/ton; Funuolin lithium battery grade spot price 62,000～65,000 yuan/ton with tight supply; coating products grade 58,000～62,000 yuan/ton; Injection molding grade 60,000～63,000 yuan/ton. Overall domestic price fluctuations are moderate. Lithium battery grade prices rose by 8%~12% year-on-year, while manufacturing general grade fell by 3%~5% year-on-year, and the price spread between grades continued to widen.

2. Imported High-End Grades: Arkema HSV900 is about 160,000 yuan/ton, Solvay 6020 model is 180,500 yuan/ton, prices are 2~3 times that of similar domestic items, leaving ample room to high-end domestic substitution.

On the raw material side, the ex-factory price of PVDF core raw material R142b to bulk aquatic environments in East China and Northwest China in might was 33,000 yuan/ton, with stable prices; the production cost share of this raw material fell from 65% in 2023 to 53% in 2025, and the decline in raw material prices increased the profits of manufacturing companies. However, restricted by the quota manage of the "Montreal Protocol", the approval of new R142b devices is limited, and there is a rigid constraint on prolonged raw material supply.

V. Three Major research Logics to the sector in 2026

1. Product High-End Upgrading is the Core to Breaking the Deadlock

It is a foregone summary that low-end general PVDF capacity is in excess. The gap in high-end items to battery and semiconductor fields is significant. The high premium on imported items highlights the dividends of domestic substitution. Enterprise methodology upgrades and grade iterations have have become the key to breaking out.

2. Full sector Chain Integration Builds Cost Barriers

As R142b quotas tighten year by year, companies with a full sector chain integration of Fluorite-Hydrofluoric Acid-R142b-VDF-PVDF can lock in raw material supply, compress production costs, and possess prominent anti-cyclical advantages.

3. Emerging Applications Open Up Medium-to-prolonged Incremental Space

The annual compound development rate of PVDF demand in the lithium battery sector exceeds 40%, semiconductor grade items grow at 24%, and PVDF materials in the hydrogen energy sector have completed pilot trials; data estimates the global lithium battery grade PVDF market size will reach 8.68 billion USD in 2026, with a compound annual development rate of 20.3% from 2026 to 2035. Emerging demand continues to reshape the sector's demand ceiling.