With the technological progress and market expansion, the production capacity and output of hydrofluoric acid have been growing rapidly. By the end of 2008, China's actual annual production capacity of hydrofluoric acid hit more than one million tons. However, hydrofluoric acid, especially high-purity and high-performance products, is still in short supply, so China imports some every year.

In 2008, the total output of hydrofluoric acid increased greatly to 679,000 tons, an increase of more than 12.7% compared with 2007. In 2003, the output was 284,300 tons, so the output expanded by an annual increase of over 10% from 2003 to 2008.

Hydrofluoric acid is not only the most important basic material for fluorine chemical, but also the fluoride with the largest consumption. Besides, it is the major downstream processed product of fluorite. It is used in the manufacture of inorganic fluorine compounds, such as aluminum fluoride and crystal stone, the purification of molybdenum, rare earth and graphite as well as glass etching and metal cleaning; additionally, it is the main raw material of fluorine. In the aspect of organic compounds, hydrofluoric acid acts as the raw material of fluorine refrigerant and organic fluorine resin as well as the catalyst of alkylation and hydrocarbons, besides, it is utilized in the polymerization of alcohol and ethers, power polishing and eroded semiconductor silicon cleaning (mixed with HNO3).

China's demand for hydrofluoric acid in 2003 was about 382,000 tons, and the figure in 2009 will be 917,000 tons. Growth in demand mainly arises from the demand of downstream application fields.