Material Insights · Understanding the Material World

Fluorochemicals and refrigerants and Food and beverage processing

Food's cold chain, from supermarket chillers to refrigerated trucks, runs largely on HFC refrigerants such as R404A, while India's big cold stores mostly use ammonia; the Kigali phase-down, with India freezing HFCs in 2028, will push food cold chains towards lower-warming refrigerants as cooling demand grows.

Fluorochemicals and refrigerants (chemical) and Food and beverage processing (industry): 4 relationships.

How they are linked

1. Refrigerants for the cold chain

Physical flow · Medium · HFC refrigerants → cold-chain warehousing and transport

Chilled and frozen food must be kept cold from factory to shop, and most commercial and transport refrigeration units use HFC blends; cold-chain warehousing and transport operators rate HFC refrigerants 4 of 5 on criticality.

  • 4 of 5 criticality for cold-chain warehousing and transport operators
  • 3,922 global warming potential of R404A, a common supermarket and transport refrigerant

R404A has been one of the most common refrigerants in supermarket chillers and low-temperature units and in refrigerated trucks and trailers. Operators need refrigerant both for new units and for topping up leaks, so supply and price of HFCs feed directly into cold-chain running costs.

Enterprise types that depend on it:

  • Cold-chain warehousing and transport operators: HFC refrigerants (criticality 4 of 5)

Sources: Material Insights; Designing Buildings Wiki; International Institute of Refrigeration

2. Kigali HFC phase-down

Policy · Rising · Montreal Protocol limits → refrigerant choice in food cold chains

The Kigali Amendment caps and then cuts HFC production and use, so cold-chain operators must move to refrigerants with lower warming potential over the next two decades.

  • 2028 year India freezes HFC production and use, on a 2024 to 2026 baseline
  • 10% and 85% India's cumulative HFC cuts from the baseline by 2032 and by 2047

India's steps are 10% by 2032, 20% by 2037, 30% by 2042 and 85% by 2047, and its cabinet approved ratification of the amendment in August 2021. Europe is ahead: from 1 January 2020 virgin refrigerants with a GWP of 2,500 or more, which includes R404A, could no longer be used to service larger systems, and reclaimed gas is allowed only until 2030, a guide to how Indian rules may later bite on supermarket and transport refrigeration.

Sources: Free Press Journal; Designing Buildings Wiki; International Institute of Refrigeration; Prime Minister's Office, Government of India; Scottish Environment Protection Agency

3. Ammonia, CO2, hydrocarbons and HFOs

Substitution · Medium · Lower-warming refrigerants can replace HFCs

Large cold stores can use ammonia, a natural refrigerant, while smaller units can switch to lower-warming HFC and HFO blends or hydrocarbons such as R290.

  • more than 95% share of Indian cold storages based on ammonia, 2016
  • 2,140 GWP of R452A, a drop-in replacement for R404A in transport units

Because Indian cold stores already use ammonia, HFC demand from India's food chain comes mainly from commercial and transport refrigeration rather than bulk storage. Drop-in blends such as R452A cut warming potential by about 45% against R404A but are not low-GWP, so a second switch to HFOs, CO2 or hydrocarbons is likely, which favours makers of those refrigerants.

Sources: Designing Buildings Wiki; International Institute of Refrigeration; International Institute of Refrigeration

4. Cooling growth in India

Transition · Rising · Cold chain and refrigeration growth → refrigerant demand

As India adds cold storage, chilled retail and refrigerated transport, demand for refrigerants grows, and commercial refrigeration is already a large HFC user.

  • 18% commercial refrigeration's share of India's HFC use (19% domestic, 40% vehicle air conditioning)
  • about 5 times projected rise in India's installed cooling capacity to 610 million tons of refrigeration by 2030 (2016 estimate)

Growth during the 2024 to 2026 baseline years raises India's cap, but equipment bought now with high-GWP gases will need servicing gas for years after the 2028 freeze. Cold chain investors therefore choose between cheaper HFC kit today and costlier lower-warming kit that avoids later retrofit.

Sources: Free Press Journal; International Institute of Refrigeration

For investors

Key learnings

  1. HFC demand from food comes mostly from supermarket and transport refrigeration, since more than 95% of Indian cold stores use ammonia.
  2. India's 2028 freeze and 85% cut by 2047 favour producers of HFOs and lower-GWP blends over legacy R404A.
  3. Cold chain operators buying HFC equipment now take on servicing gas and retrofit risk as the phase-down tightens.

What to track

  • HFC refrigerant prices (R32, R134a, R404A) in China and India: Cost of servicing and new cold-chain equipment (Monthly · industry price reports, company results)
  • HFC quota and phase-down rules in India: Timing of restrictions on high-GWP refrigerants (As announced · Ozone Cell, MoEFCC)
  • Cold storage and reefer truck capacity added: Growth in refrigerant demand from food (Yearly · Ministry of Food Processing Industries, NCCD)

For policymakers

Key learnings

  1. India freezes HFCs in 2028 on a 2024 to 2026 baseline, so cold-chain build-out today shapes how hard later cuts will be.
  2. India's ammonia-based cold stores are already climate-friendly; the policy gap is in commercial and transport refrigeration.
  3. Servicing-sector training and refrigerant recovery matter as much as new-equipment rules, because leaks drive HFC demand.

What to track

  • HFC consumption against the Kigali baseline: Compliance headroom before the 2028 freeze (Yearly · Ozone Cell, MoEFCC; UNEP Ozone Secretariat)
  • Share of new commercial and transport refrigeration on low-GWP refrigerants: Pace of transition in the food cold chain (Yearly · industry associations, ISHRAE)

India

India's food cold stores are mostly ammonia-based, but supermarket and transport refrigeration use HFCs; India freezes HFC use in 2028 under Kigali and must cut it 10% by 2032 and 85% by 2047.

Sources

  1. Food and beverage processing: materials and inputs, Material Insights (2026)
  2. Boost for cooling industry as India approves Kigali ratification, Free Press Journal (2021)
  3. R404A phase out, Designing Buildings Wiki
  4. Refrigerated transport: R452A as a drop-in alternative to R404A, International Institute of Refrigeration (2015)
  5. Natural refrigerants: the Indian perspective, International Institute of Refrigeration (2016)
  6. Cabinet approves the negotiating position adopted by the Government at the Meeting of Parties to the Montreal Protocol, Prime Minister's Office, Government of India (2016)
  7. 2020 refrigerants gas ban, Scottish Environment Protection Agency