Chloroform Market is Expected to Grow Due to the Adoption of Chloroform in Chemical and Pharamaceutical Industries

Chloroform, also known as trichloromethane is one of the most popular used solvents for organic compounds which do not dissolve well in water. Its use in industrial manufacturing of refrigerants, fluro-resins, soil fumigants is widely exploited globally, along with other applications in pharmaceutical preparations. Chloroform was the first medically used anesthetic in the US, until it got restrictedby chemical agencies due to its suspected carcinogenetic effects.Moreover, it was widely associated with criminal use as a sedative to knock out victims. Hence, the use and manufacturing of chloroform is heavily regulated by government agencies such as the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) which can only be authorizedby sales department of chloroform to register its legal entities,different laboratories and chemical industries. Chloroform can also be used as an intermediate in the manufacturing of PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene), also known as Teflon. 

The key players in the manufacturing of chloroform and its derivatives are BASF SE, Dow Chemicals, Tokuyama Corporation, Solvay and Gujarat Alkalies, and Chemicals Limited. These key players are majorly based in top exporting countries like China, United States, Germany, Japan, India and the Netherlands.

The global chloroform exports in 2017 amounted to $9.17 billion according to International Trade Centre statistics.The largest exporter of chloroform in 2017 was China, whose net export value was $2.056 billion, followed closely by United States exporting $2.051 billion worth of chloroform. Japan came in third with an export value of $1.057 billion, followed by Germany and Netherlands. Although China’s net export value was larger compared to the US, the former exported a net quantity of 738,299 tons, while the former’s exported quantity amounted to 2.91 billion tons. This discrepancy is due to the greaterselling unit value of China compared to the US, i.e. China exportschloroform products for a unit price of $2786 per unit ton, while the US sold chloroform for $704 per unit ton. Netherland’s exporter had the highest unit price value of $9,771 per unit ton in the world.The usual trend is that the exporting price is greater than the importing price, however the U.S. is an exceptional case in terms of exporting.The geographical markets with thelargest potential for chloroform are China, Netherlands and Mexico.

As per the International Trade Centre’s export potential analysis, China showed the largest absolute difference between actual export value in 2017 and potential exports, with an additional realizable worth of $8.6 million.This growth is triggered by a number of factors, such as greater bilateral trade agreements, protectionist policies and larger economies of scale. The global Chloroform Market’s CAGR in the period, 2013-2017 has been a moderate 2%, with a 22% annual growth rate from 2016-17.

Coming to the global imports of chloroform, in 2017, the net value of trade amounted to $9.86 billion.With Chinawho is the largest importer of chloroform products, are buying organic halogen derivatives at a unit price of $685 per unit ton. United States holds it’s another position by importing these products by net value of $870 million, closely followed by India which imports $734 million worth of chloroform products.India had recently implemented the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in 2017, which boosted the imports and results in 33% growth rate from 2016-17.

The major exporters and importers of chloroform are China and the U.S. which hold a combined global market share of around 45%. According to the American Chemistry Council,the U.S. imports on an average, which is more than $16 billion worth of chemical goods from the China annually. The recent hike in trade tariffs by the US government on Chinese imports will hamper the domestic pharmaceutical and chemical companies that almost entirely rely on these Chinese imports. The tariff hike of 25% by the US is been retaliated by the Chinese counterparts with the same hike. Furthermore, the Fluoropolymer Trade Alliance (FTA)that oversees the trade of PTFE, which is made using chloroform, believes that China has a trade deficit with the United States in PTFE resins. As a result of this trade war, this trade deficit would likely turn into a surplus.This would mean that countries would have to look towards either manufacturing chloroform at their domestic sites or prefer countries which have lower tariffs. The growth of exports or imports of chloroform based products is uncertain considering these escalating trade wars and the changing geo-political relations, but regardless the demand for the chloroform is on the rise.

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