Hydrofluoric Acid Price Trend and Forecast: Top 10 Leading Trading Countries and Regions - Latest Edition [2026]

The Expert Market Research pricing report on Hydrofluoric Acid provides insights into the top 10 leading trading countries and regions.

Hydrofluoric acid prices trends varied among the top 10 producers in early 2024 against a backdrop of varying capacity, export policy, and demand from regional markets. China was the largest producer, but reduced exports due to environmental controls, and increasing domestic consumption, curtailed global supply while increasing tautness to prices. In Q1 2025, hydrofluoric acid prices increased globally due to a tight supply of fluorite and strong demand from the refrigerant and chemical sectors. China’s more competitive cost structure continued to influence prices in Asia and to some regions in Europe, despite current limitations. At the same time, European players like Spain and Germany, continued to battle higher compliance and energy costs, all ultimately resulting in reduced exports and similar overall price rates. In the United States, production levels and stocks remained stable, while logistic and shipping costs along with energy prices continued to negatively impact, thus forcing price variances to remain moderate despite higher demand.

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India and South Korea both ramped up production capacity to compensate for diminishing supply, but both were facing higher feedstock costs that decreased their overall competitiveness. Producers in the Middle East, like Saudi Arabia and Turkey, faced moderate price increases from inflation, currency limitations, etc. In addition, regional players in Latin America like Mexico, Brazil, etc., faced fluctuations in price from freight delays and uncertain new demand in the import structure. Overall, for hydrofluoric acid in 2024, China’s pricing guideline dominated the outlook, while regionally affected producer issues and trade impacted localized price variations.

Hydrofluoric Acid Price Forecast

The global hydrofluoric acid market outlook in 2024 was subdued by very large price volatility, caused by environmental regulations, raw materials prices, and regional differential demand. Prices in North America fell in the third quarter of 2024 as downstream product demand, such as refrigerants and batteries, remained moderate, while material availability expanded. Capacity and weather phenomena, such as bad cold weather and heavy wet weather, affected fluorite mining activity. Despite the challenges in production, the demand side was robust as industries consuming fluoropolymers, cleaners, and refrigerants had nil growth as measured through regional demand consumption. In the Asia-Pacific region, hydrofluoric acid prices fell in the third quarter of 2024. Japan was facing competition from Chinese imports at very low prices, and the Monsoon weather in China constrained production from fluorite mining and resulted in a constrained supply, thus raising prices for hydrofluoric acid. Overall, hydrofluoric acid production from Japan has seen higher inventory and somewhat weak buying activity, easing markets. In the coming years, hydrofluoric acid pricing should stay robust up until at least 2025 based on continued strong demand from the electronics and fluoropolymer industries. Nevertheless, continuing regulatory reforms, environmental impacts, and geopolitical influences may drive regional production relative to established pricing. Corporations are investing in cleaner production opportunities, while also searching for opportunities to use substitute raw materials to relieve cost pressures and to engage rapidly increasing demand.

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Global Trade and Supply Chain Implications

In 2024, the global trade and supply chain environment for hydrofluoric acid was impacted by uneven production, rising transportation and input costs, and supply diversification. China remained the largest exporter of hydrofluoric acid, but outbound shipments decreased due to environmental regulations, rising fluorspar prices, and increased domestic consumption. These factors affected the price competitiveness of Chinese hydrofluoric acid in the global marketplace, causing buyers in Japan, South Korea, and the European Union to seek supply from other sources, typically India and Southeast Asia. However, these suppliers had very small amounts of hydrofluoric acid they could offer and possibly not at prices lower than that of Chinese acid.

Sustained US hydrofluoric acid imports, and ample inventories for purchasers prevented price pressure, but sellers in Europe faced considerably higher prices from logistical issues and a greater-than-normal dependence on hydrofluoric acid supply from China. Additionally, extreme weather in China has impacted fluorite mines and affected the global supply of hydrofluoric acid. Overall, these developments illustrated just how vulnerable the hydrofluoric acid trade network is to environmental and geopolitical disruptions and moving from a situation of fragile and sudden shocks, eventually toward more regional production resilience and diversification of supply chains.

Feedstock Analysis

The pricing analysis of hydrofluoric acid closely follows the cost and availability of its main raw material, fluorspar, as well as relevant input products, including sulfuric acid, energy supply, and transportation. The global fluorspar markets faced upward pricing pressure in 2024 due to decreased levels of mining activity, particularly in China where the majority of the world's fluorspar is produced. Limited quantities of fluorspar are available due to stricter environmental regulations, harsh monsoon weather, and increased domestic consumption putting pressure on the supply of fluorspar, causing input costs for producers of hydrofluoric acid to increase. Hydrofluoric acid is energy-intensive, so the burden of rising costs of raw materials has been made heavier with the increasing energy prices that have been seen in certain regions at the same time as these upward pressures were taking place in fluorspar supply.

Mineral supplementing sprays from alternative suppliers of Fluorspar, such as South Africa and Mexico, were also seeing pressures from logistical challenges to fill the gap in supply and growing extraction costs to extract their product. Broader macroeconomic factors affecting hydrofluoric acid price forecast suggests that the supply of sulfuric acid was also playing a role as prices were increasing and decreasing for sulfuric acid in many areas, with price variations playing off reduced levels of refinery output and demand in the chemical sector. It seemed that upstream pressures were increasing overall production costs for hydrofluoric acid, and these factors kept prices firm around the world. There wasn't a limited availability of feedstocks for production of hydrofluoric acid, however, regional differences in availability of supply in fluorspar and margins for processing fluorspar were the rationale influencing trends of prices for hydrofluoric acid in 2024.

Demand and Supply Outlook for Hydrofluoric Acid

Furthermore, advancements in technology in the refining process and increased R&D expenditure in eco-friendly applications will drive cost savings and supply chain efficiency and, in turn, stabilize long-term prices. Nevertheless, price volatility can be expected in the short term because of market fluctuation, but trends overall point towards a steady rise in glycerol prices as dependence on its derivatives is further increasing.

The demand for hydrofluoric acid in 2024 remained robust, driven primarily by growth in key downstream industries such as electronics manufacturing, refrigerants, lithium-ion batteries, and fluoropolymer production. Increased global semiconductor fabrication and rising electric vehicle adoption sustained demand for high-purity hydrofluoric acid, particularly in Asia-Pacific and North America. Meanwhile, the aluminum and pharmaceutical sectors maintained steady consumption levels, supporting a balanced demand base. However, economic uncertainties and fluctuating end-user demand introduced some short-term volatility in certain regions.

On the supply side, capacity expansions were limited due to environmental compliance costs and raw material constraints, particularly in China, the world’s largest producer. Production disruptions caused by stricter regulations and seasonal factors, such as monsoon-related mining slowdowns, further constrained output. Alternative producers in India, Southeast Asia, and Europe are gradually increasing capacities but have yet to fill the supply gap fully. Looking ahead, supply-demand imbalances are likely to persist into 2025, with prices supported by sustained demand growth and limited near-term capacity additions. Industry efforts toward sustainable production and supply diversification are expected to shape future market trends.

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