The market situation for fluoroplastics has been and will remain tense, according to the fluoroplastics working group within Germany’s association for semi-finished plastics and consumer products, pro-K (Frankfurt; www.pro-kunststoff.de).

Michael Schlipf, chairman of the group, said the current industry trend indicates that prices for S-PTFE and E-PTFE will maintain their high levels for the foreseeable future, and they could even rise further. It also remains unclear whether additional PTFE capacity added “to a considerable extent” in China will reach the German market.

At the end of last year, pro-K was still cautiously optimistic; there is no such positivity in the current assessment, though. In fact, Schlipf emphasised that processors of fluoropolymers were also facing further increases in raw material prices in the fourth quarter of 2021. He noted that there can be no talk of any easing at the end of the year.

To secure the quantities required for 2022, pro-K recommends members plan for the long term and diversify on the supplier side. Schlipf said he also expects high prices in the first months of the new year. He pointed out that new PTFE capacity in China is primarily intended for domestic demand, which has shown strong growth in the areas of mobility, electronics, data transmission, and infrastructure. Schlipf added that he was unable to estimate how much fluoroplastic, if any, would be exported to Europe.

Pro-K is a supporting member of German plastics converters association GKV (Berlin; www.gkv.de). Its 120 member companies employ around 80,000 and generate a combined annual turnover of more than EUR 10 bn.