In 2025, the overall Chinese chloroform market showed a volatile downward trend, with a slight rebound towards the end of the year

In January and February of this year, some chloroform producers underwent plant maintenance, leading to tight supply. Coupled with the restart of quotas for downstream companies at the beginning of the year and their active stockpiling efforts, demand surged in the short term, driving chloroform prices up to 2,800 RMB/ton.

From March to July, while new production capacity was gradually released, demand for the key downstream product, refrigerant R22, remained weak. This led to immense supply pressure, high inventory levels for companies, and a drop in chloroform prices to a year-low of 1,533 RMB/ton.

From August to October, on the one hand, methanol raw material prices weakened, causing the cost support for chloroform to collapse; on the other hand, weak downstream demand led to a downward trend in prices. During this period, maintenance work at some companies temporarily eased supply pressure, somewhat mitigating the downward pressure on prices.

From November to December, regional supply tightened and company inventories remained low.  This, coupled with a release of some demand towards the end of the year, pushed prices to stop falling and recover slightly. The price of chloroform rose to around 1,966 RMB/ton.

The price fluctuations of chloroform in 2025 was mainly influenced by the following factors:

Supply pressure continued to increase: New production capacity was released in the industry in 2025, leading to an overall increase in supply. At the same time, as an important "chlorine-consuming" product, methane chloride plants maintained high operating rates even when operating at a loss, exacerbating the oversupply situation in the market. Hunan Hengyang Jindong Technology Co., Ltd.'s first phase 200,000 tons/year methane chloride plant began trial operation at the end of March 2025 and achieved stable operation in October 2025. The average annual operating rate of methane chloride in China in 2025 was around 78%, with lower operating rates in the first and fourth quarters due to concentrated maintenance by major manufacturers, and higher operating rates during the peak seasons of the second and third quarters. 

The downstream demand structure was single and weak: over 90% of the demand for chloroform depends on the refrigerant R22. However, the quota for R22 was reduced in 2025, and its end-use demand (such as fluoropolymers) was performing poorly. This had resulted in low production activity among companies, leading to weak demand for the raw material, chloroform.

Cost and Loss Constraints: Costs determine the "bottom": When the market price of chloroform falls to or below the cost line of "methanol + manufacturing costs," companies without competitive advantages will incur cash losses and be forced to reduce or cease production, thus providing rigid bottom support for prices. Looking at the overall trend of chloroform in 2025, the price fell to around 1,533 RMB/ton in June-July 2025, reaching this bottom line. Overall, when demand is sufficient, cost fluctuations can be effectively passed on to the selling price. When demand is severely insufficient, costs can only define the bottom of the price decline and the depth of losses, but cannot drive a sustained upward trend.

Market Outlook for 2026

Overall, the chloroform market is expected to remain under pressure in 2026, with little prospect of a sustained upward trend.

Supply side: The overcapacity situation is expected to continue. A slight increase in methyl chloride production capacity is projected for 2025, with few new methyl chloride plants planned for the future. Currently, only Gansu Juhua New Materials Co., Ltd.'s 760,000 tons/year methyl chloride plant is under construction. In 2026, chloroform production is expected to be approximately 1.05-1.1 million tons, with an operating rate of 70-75%. Overall supply will remain ample.

Demand side: The core downstream refrigerant R22 is facing continuous quota reductions, leading to a 3-5% decrease in demand. Its share of the market is projected to fall from 45% in 2025 to 40-42% in 2026. The limited growth potential for R22 demand will continue to be a key limiting factor for the chloroform market. Market growth will increasingly depend on fluorinated polymer materials (such as PTFE), fourth-generation refrigerants (such as HFOs), and fine chemical fields such as pharmaceutical and pesticide intermediates.

Price Trend: Given the expectation of ample supply, the overall price level is unlikely to rise significantly and is expected to continue fluctuating at a low level. The magnitude of price fluctuations will be influenced by specific factors such as changes in the cost of raw materials (methanol and liquid chlorine) and downstream inventory replenishment demand. Overall, the bottom price of chloroform in 2026 will still be constrained by costs. The average price of methanol in 2026 is expected to be 2,100-2,300 RMB/ton, and the price of liquid chlorine is expected to be 50-250 RMB/ton, providing continued cost support for the bottom price of chloroform. Furthermore, affected by supply and demand dynamics and maintenance schedules, the overall price of chloroform in 2026 is expected to fluctuate between 1,800 and 2,300 RMB/ton.

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