As local awareness of the strategic importance of the fluorochemical industry grew, provinces and cities with fluorine resources experienced varying degrees of 'Great Leap Forward-style' expansion during the 12th Five-Year Plan. Over the past two years, the release of capacity from existing plants, weak international economic recovery, slower domestic economic growth and other factors have weakened demand in the fluorochemical market. Low-level duplicate construction is widespread, fluorite resources are used inefficiently, and the product mix is unreasonable. Foreign fluorochemical giants have invested in China in succession, greatly reducing the room for domestic fluorochemical companies to survive.

　　In the author's view, resolving these problems and successfully transforming and upgrading the fluorochemical industry during the 13th Five-Year Plan requires a foundation in technological innovation and continual expansion into new application areas.

　　A foundation in technological innovation is dictated by the nature and current state of the fluorochemical industry. Although the industry is relatively small within the national economy, it attracts considerable attention because its products combine three characteristics: high technology, high performance and high added value. After decades of development, China has broken foreign technological monopolies in fluorochemicals, and many low- and mid-range products have reached large-scale production. Changing the current unreasonable industrial and product structures and moving toward the high end inevitably require technological support.

　　More than other industries, fluorochemicals need a strategy driven by technological innovation. Given China's relatively weak foundation in this area, such innovation requires support at the national level.

　　First, the country should pursue a 'bring in and go global' strategy, guiding the domestic fluorochemical industry to strengthen fluorine-resource development and protection and integrate closely with related industries such as phosphorus chemicals, chlor-alkali chemicals and silicones. Excessive exploitation and simple export trading of fluorine resources should be prevented, dependence on fluorite should be continually reduced, and fluorine-resource utilization should be improved. Domestic companies should also be strongly encouraged to invest in or control fluorite resources abroad.

　　Second, the country should coordinate overall planning and gradually raise industry-entry standards in line with regional functional plans. Taxation, land, financing, incentive and penalty policies should be used to eliminate installations with obsolete processes and equipment or serious pollution, compelling companies to adopt technological innovation.

　　Third, the country should foster a culture of technological innovation and strongly implement policies for intellectual-property protection and utilization. It should effectively address difficult issues in mechanisms, systems and procedures that restrict innovation and the commercialization of research, fully activating the industry's momentum, vitality and potential.

　　Finally, the country should organize resources at a higher level to establish technological innovation service platforms. These should integrate and share innovative resources such as talent, technology, capital and information, focusing on common industry problems and key technologies that constrain development. Examples include large-scale and engineering-scale production of PFOA alternatives and the process equipment associated with fluorochemical production.

　　Effectively overcoming the challenges of transforming and upgrading the fluorochemical industry also requires expansion into new application areas. On the one hand, while maintaining traditional applications in chemicals, machinery, defense and construction, new sources of sales growth should be carefully developed by refining market segments and exploring further processing in downstream markets. Examples include high-temperature-resistant, flame-retardant fluorine materials for construction, fluorine coatings for marine corrosion protection, and fluorine-containing membranes for chemical separation. On the other hand, development should closely follow the national Belt and Road strategy and focus on the seven strategic emerging industries, including new energy, aerospace, energy conservation and environmental protection, electronic information, new-energy vehicles and high-end equipment manufacturing. Strong efforts should be made to develop fluorine coatings for solar-cell backsheets, fluorine materials for dust removal and water treatment, high-end electronic communications and high-end equipment manufacturing, specialty fluoroelastomers for aerospace, fluorinated fine chemicals for pharmaceuticals or pesticides, fluorinated liquid-crystal materials and fluorinated textile finishing agents.

　　In conclusion, during the 13th Five-Year Plan, China's fluorochemical industry must stop simple replication, copying and duplicate construction, and make technological innovation and new application development its top priorities. Only then can the industry enter a new period of growth.