“One price a day”! With the supply of bromine and flame retardants tight and products in short supply, how much do listed companies benefit upon listing? | Fax

Ask AI · How does the Middle East situation affect the supply chain behind the surge in bromine prices?

Cailian Press, April 1 (Reporter Xiao Lianghua) “It went up by 5,000 the day before, and today it went up by 8,000. If you don’t buy now, the next order price will be even more outrageous.” On the 1st, a bromine industry insider in Shandong told Cailian Press that since the beginning of this year, due to domestic supply shortages and overseas supply disruptions, bromine prices have remained on an upward track. Entering March, the bromine price increase curve became extremely steep. In the past few days, small-factory transaction prices have already risen to 78,000 yuan/ton, with a monthly increase as high as 90%.

This sharp surge in prices has drawn widespread market attention. Will the price increase continue? How is downstream demand performing? When will supply be able to increase? How much profit will listed companies see?

Cailian Press interviewed multiple companies across the industry chain and learned that from bromine to brominated flame retardants, nearly all industry players are operating with zero inventory, and downstream rigid demand cannot be met. A person in charge at Binzhou Chemical (601678.SH) said there is currently no bromine inventory, so the company does not quote prices for the product for now. A person at Shandong Haiwang Chemical Co., Ltd. (abbreviated as “Haiwang Chemical”) told Cailian Press that because bromine prices have risen, the current quotations for brominated flame retardants have increased by more than 1 times compared with the beginning of the year.

Looking ahead, multiple industry insiders interviewed believe that the Middle East situation and domestic bromine producers’ production cuts have led to a supply shortage. Coupled with continued growth in downstream demand, bromine and brominated flame retardant prices may remain at high levels and fluctuate strongly in the short term. For the medium- to long-term price trend, attention should be paid to overseas supply and the increase in domestic production of seawater bromine.

One price a day! Industry insiders: April prices may remain volatile at high levels

Since March, bromine has been almost “one price a day.” In early March, quotes rose from 41,300 yuan/ton to 45,000 yuan/ton, which was a moderate increase. In mid-March (11–20), quotes rose from 46,000 yuan/ton to 51,500 yuan/ton, and the price increases began to accelerate. In the latter part of the month, quotes rose to 70,000 yuan/ton, surging aggressively.

Data from Business Society shows that as of April 1, bromine quotes from multiple companies such as Shandong Hongyang Chemical have risen to 75,000 yuan/ton. A bromine practitioner in Weifang, Shandong, told Cailian Press that in recent days, small bromine factories’ actual transactions have been at 78,000 yuan/ton, up about 90% from the beginning of the month. The cumulative increase this year exceeds 126%.

This price is the highest ever, and is more than three times the average bromine price last year. The aforementioned industry insider told Cailian Press that the previous historical peak for bromine occurred in 2021, with actual transaction prices around 73,000 yuan/ton.

Overseas bromine quotes have also increased sharply. A person in charge of a brominated flame retardant company in Jiangsu told Cailian Press that the bromine price in the Middle East for March 2026 has risen to 50,000 yuan/ton, while it was only 18,000–19,000 yuan/ton in the same period in 2025.

Affected by the surge in bromine prices, downstream brominated flame retardant prices have likewise increased significantly. Haiwang Chemical told Cailian Press that currently, brominated flame retardant quotations have risen from 60,000 yuan/ton at the start of the year to 135,000 yuan/ton. “At this price, we can only ensure supply to major customers; there are too many orders still pending delivery.”

The aforementioned Jiangsu flame retardant company representative also told Cailian Press that “On March 18, the company expected brominated flame retardant quotes for April to rise to 80,000 yuan/ton, but by the end of March, actual transaction prices had already reached 123,000–130,000 yuan/ton.”

Regarding the future trend of bromine prices, industry and analysts generally believe that in the short term, prices will remain volatile at high levels. Zhao Qianqian, a bromine analyst at Zhuo Chuang Information, told Cailian Press that the Middle East event is not yet over; the domestic market is still affected by imports. In April, market prices may run with a stronger bias toward volatility. Later on, as the Middle East situation eases and imported sources stabilize, market prices will more follow seasonal trends. At that time, as domestic seawater bromine output increases, prices may face downward pressure.

Supply-and-demand contradictions are difficult to resolve in the short term

Bromine is not a product that can be expanded casually or replenished in the short term; production depends heavily on seawater and underground brine resources. Domestic capacity is highly concentrated, with Shandong accounting for over 80%. In recent years, under national supply-side reforms and environmental protection policies, controls over bromine production have become increasingly strict. Meanwhile, underground brine resources have declined, leading to reduced bromine production domestically.

A person in charge of a bromine production company in Weifang told Cailian Press that because the concentration of underground brine has decreased, about eight or nine years ago, the company could produce 18,000 tons of bromine per year; now, even when running at full capacity, the company can produce at most 5,000 tons per year—only one-third of what it produced a decade ago.

Baichuan Yingfu data shows that from 2021 to 2024, China’s bromine output fell from 70.10 thousand tons to 58.30 thousand tons, while import volumes rose from 62.90 thousand tons to 76.60 thousand tons. Import dependence increased from 47.30% to 56.79%. In 2024, China mainly imported bromine from countries including Israel, Jordan, Laos, Japan, and India, with Israel accounting for 48.92%.

Overseas supply is also not stable. At the end of March 2025, after an industrial chemical liquid chlorine leak accident occurred in Israel, bromine capacity was reduced by 50%. More recently, the escalation of conflicts in the Middle East has further intensified the difficulty of bromine supply.

“A shipment ordered more than a month ago is still floating at sea,” a flame retardant company executive in Jiangsu told Cailian Press. He said that under the influence of the recent Middle East situation, sailing schedules have been extended from 30 days to 70 days, and freight costs have also increased.

On the demand side, rigid demand for brominated flame retardants remains stable, while new demand is increasing rapidly. On the one hand, standards for fire prevention in power batteries are becoming stricter, and the application of brominated flame retardants in electrolytes and copper-clad laminates continues to expand. On the other hand, equipment such as 5G/AI has driven a surge in PCB board demand, becoming a core incremental source of bromine demand. From 2019 to 2023, China’s copper-clad laminate production achieved an average annual compound growth rate of 10.5%.

With demand growing across multiple areas, the tight situation of “insufficient supply relative to demand” in the brominated flame retardant industry has intensified. Can phosphorus-based flame retardants replace bromine-based ones? The aforementioned Jiangsu company said that brominated flame retardants are mainly used in automobiles and small home appliances; phosphorus-nitrogen flame retardants are mainly used in real estate. The two cannot fully substitute each other, and brominated flame retardants still account for over 60% of market share.

Zhou Kan, director of Poly Chemical (688669.SH), told Cailian Press that overall, replacing brominated flame retardants with other types is a trend, but the pace will be relatively slow. Because brominated flame retardants have excellent flame-retardant properties, they are difficult to replace in certain specific fields. Previously, due to raw material price increases, other flame retardants replaced brominated flame retardants in a first wave, and most of the ones that could be substituted already have been substituted. The remaining demand is mostly rigid.

Listed companies: No inventory; currently only supplying long-term contract customers

Under supply shortages, nearly all related companies in the industry chain have almost zero inventory. As producers, listed companies can only prioritize fulfilling long-term contract orders first.

“A company currently has no inventory and does not quote prices to the outside. Bromine production capacity is limited, so we can only supply long-term contract customers,” a bromine sales staff member at Binzhou Chemical told Cailian Press by phone as an Investor. The securities department personnel at Lubei Chemical also said that for the moment, the company’s bromine products are not being quoted externally.

When the market was sluggish previously, Oriental Iron Tower (002545.SZ) had accumulated a large stock of sodium bromide at its potassium fertilizer production base in Laos (2 tons of sodium bromide can be purified into 1.2 tons of bromine). This year, as the market exploded upward, the company was able to clear its sodium bromide inventory smoothly. “When inventory was at its peak, we had nearly 20,000 tons of sodium bromide, and there was almost nowhere left to store it. Now buyers are actively taking goods, and only a few thousand tons remain,” a company-related person told Cailian Press.

Cailian Press learned that for listed companies, most bromine product orders are long-term contracts characterized by “ensuring volume but not ensuring price,” with pricing following the market.

The domestic bromine capacity landscape is relatively clear, with relevant companies concentrated around Bohai Bay. Among them, Lubei Chemical (600727.SH) has bromine capacity of about 5,000 tons per year; Binzhou Chemical’s designed bromine capacity is 5,750 tons per year; and Shandong Haichem (000822.SZ) has capacity of about 10,000 tons per year.

However, due to limited resources, most listed companies’ actual bromine output is difficult to reach their designed capacity. According to announcements, Lubei Chemical’s bromine production in 2025 was 3,245 tons and sales were 3,117 tons; Binzhou Chemical’s bromine production in 2024 was 4,036 tons; and Luyin Investment (600784.SH) was 2,667.44 tons.

As a byproduct of potash mining in Laos, Yake International (000893.SZ) and Oriental Iron Tower (002545.SZ) have some sodium bromide production capacity. Public information shows that Yake International has 25,000 tons/year of sodium bromide capacity, while Oriental Iron Tower’s capacity is 10,000 tons/year.

The surge in bromine and flame retardant prices will undoubtedly bring higher earnings to related listed companies. Taking Shandong Haichem as an example: last year’s average bromine price was 25,000 yuan/ton. If this year’s average price rose to 50,000 yuan/ton, then with annual production of 10,000 tons, the company’s profit could increase by 250 million yuan.

At the same time, domestic companies are also actively expanding overseas capacity. The aforementioned Haiwang Chemical insider said that the bromine sources the company needs are mainly from Djibouti. Currently, the company’s production bases in Tunisia and Qatar have already begun construction, and in the future overseas bromine capacity will be further increased.

Regarding brominated flame retardant capacity, Solvay? (603585.SH) owns brominated flame retardant and flame retardant intermediate capacity of 245,000 tons. Haiwang Chemical’s brominated flame retardant capacity is 50,000 tons per year. Yaxing Chemical (600319.SH) owns Shandong Tianyi Chemical Co., Ltd., which was planned to be acquired in 2025, and which has brominated flame retardant capacity of 68,000 tons per year.

(Cailian Press reporter Xiao Lianghua)