Kureha suspends PVDF production expansion plan in China

Author: OrderPlastics

2024-3-27

Affected by the US IRA, Kureha halts China’s plan to increase production of EV battery materials

Due to the impact of the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), Japanese chemical manufacturer Kureha announced that it would discontinue the use of resin "PVDF (polyvinylidene difluoride)" in Chinese electric vehicle (EV) batteries. Fluoride)" production increase plan.

Kureha issued a press release on the 27th and announced that it would suspend its plan to increase production of China's EV battery material "PVDF". This is mainly due to the difficulty in exporting battery materials from China to the United States after the U.S. IRA law came into effect. In addition, the company is expanding Japan's PVDF production capacity. According to its own estimates, Japan's production increase plan is sufficient to meet current demand.

Kureha's existing factory in Changshu City, Jiangsu Province, China mainly produces PVDF for the Chinese and European markets. Kureha announced in July 2021 that it will invest 18 billion to 20 billion yen to build a new factory in Changshu City to increase the production of PVDF. The new factory is expected to start production in 2024. However, China’s production increase plan announced in July 2021 has been stalled. Kureha also stated on the 27th that due to the suspension of China’s PVDF production increase plan, a loss of approximately 2.3 billion yen will be recognized as a result, and the withdrawal of part of the food packaging materials business will recognize a loss of approximately 2.3 billion yen. Therefore, this year (April 2023) -March 2024) The consolidated revenue target was revised down to 177 billion yen from the original estimate of 180 billion yen, the consolidated profit target was revised down from 14 billion yen to 11 billion yen, and the consolidated net profit target was revised down from 10.5 billion yen. to 7.5 billion yen.

According to quotes from Yahoo Finance, Kureha fell 3.10% to 2,721 yen as of 8:20 a.m. Taipei time on the 28th. Kureha announced on August 22, 2023 that it will invest approximately 70 billion yen to add a new factory at the Iwaki Plant in Japan (Iwaki City, Fukushima Prefecture) to increase the production of "PVDF" for lithium-ion batteries. The above-mentioned new factory is expected to be opened in March 2026 When completed, the annual PVDF production capacity will be 8,000 tons.

Kureha pointed out that PVDF can be used as a binder for the cathode material, a key material for lithium-ion batteries. In recent years, due to the rising environmental awareness in various countries and the continued expansion of demand from automotive lithium-ion batteries, customers have requested to further expand the supply of PVDF.

Kureha currently uses the Iwaki Plant and its Chinese subsidiary to produce PVDF, with annual production capacities of 6,000 tons and 5,000 tons respectively. After the above-mentioned new plants are introduced into mass production, Kureha's overall PVDF annual production capacity will increase by 70% from the current (11,000 tons) to 1.9 Thousands of tons.

Kureha said it aims to further expand the annual PVDF production capacity to 30,000-40,000 tons in 2030.

Finally,

Our mainly materials including SABIC, SOLVAY, BASF, VICTREX, ARKEMA, DAIKIN, CHEMOURS, AGC brands with Fluoroplastics TP/PI PAI PEEK PEI PPSU PSU PES PP Compound to widely used in various fields, such as energy equipment, electronic, automotive, household appliances, etc.   

If you also want to find a good and stable supplier for long term, you can make a try order to compare everything details. Believe we will your the right choice!