Split Japanese PFAS stocks into measuring PFAS in water and removing it, and which side already has sales? AI read the annual reports of 79 companies that mention PFAS and 11 on PFAS stock lists, 90 in all, and supported 5 on at least one of three questions.
PFAS is the umbrella term for organic fluorine compounds that repel water and oil and resist heat; there are said to be more than 10,000 of them. They barely break down in nature and are called "forever chemicals." PFOS and PFOA in particular have been linked to harms such as cancer.
On April 1, 2026, Japan made PFOS and PFOA formal drinking water quality standards. The limit is 50 nanograms per liter for the two combined. Water utilities must, as a rule, test every three months and meet the standard.
Costs are already appearing. A single test costs tens of thousands to ¥100,000, and a removal facility tens of millions to hundreds of millions of yen. The Chatan water treatment plant in Okinawa installed activated carbon equipment for ¥1.6 billion. From fiscal 2026, replacing the carbon falls outside national subsidies and is expected to be paid by the prefecture.
Developments continue. On September 10, Okayama Prefecture's pollution review board accepted a mediation request by a company storing used activated carbon, against Daikin Industries and others, over contamination in Kibichuo. It is Japan's first inter-company pollution mediation over PFAS. In October, an industry-government-academia project of the Japan Water Research Center compiled a guide to installing and running PFAS removal equipment at treatment plants, with Muromachi Chemicals writing the chapter on ion exchange resins.
Demand already shows in Japanese companies' figures. GL Techno Holdings grew sales last year as mass spectrometers and other equipment for PFAS analysis sold well. In raising its full-year forecast on November 2, it named higher sales of consumables for the environmental field as a support for profit.
A new standard does not immediately sell removal equipment. Utilities first test their water, and only plants that exceed the limit install equipment.
So the first demand regulation creates should be for analytical instruments and testing. Demand for removal should follow, starting with plants that exceed the limit.
So we used Katana to read the annual reports of companies tied to PFAS, looking separately, with three questions, for those reporting sales from analysis, sales from removal, and plans to expand removal.
“We want companies that make money from PFAS countermeasures. We want to see separately those that already report sales from measuring PFAS, those that report sales from removing it, and those with specific plans to expand PFAS removal.”
Entered in Japanese; English translation.
We started from the 79 companies whose main annual report sections use terms such as PFAS, PFOS, PFOA or organic fluorine, and added 11 that do not use them but appear on PFAS stock lists from Japanese stock sites, for 90 in all. We turned this profile into three questions entered in English and had the AI read each report, one question at a time and separately. Claude ran the judgments with Katana's own judgment system, and we checked the listed companies against the report text. Latest developments come from each company's results materials and announcements. Judgments and data as of November 9, 2026.
Katana computes its metrics for every company.
AI reads each annual report and judges support and counterevidence.
The questions were entered in English and each was judged separately, so companies that missed one question were still asked the others. The detailed results show the third question.
read the filings and supported 5 on at least one of three questions.
Of 90 companies, the analysis question had 2 supported and 11 needing review; the removal sales question, 0 and 18; the removal plans question, 3 and 39. First come Nitto Seiko and IDEA Consultants (supported) and GL Techno Holdings (needs review) on analysis, then Kurita Water Industries, EnBio Holdings and Ebara Jitsugyo, supported on removal plans.
Says strong demand continues, mainly in Europe, for its automatic sample combustion units used in PFAS screening analysis.Filing ↗
Says instrument sales beat the prior year, helped by strong sales of mass spectrometers and solid-phase extraction units, for which demand for PFAS analysis is rising.Filing ↗
Says its environmental chemistry division carried out PFAS measurement and analysis and developed analytical methods, alongside other environmental testing.Filing ↗
Says it decided in April to invest in Cyclopure, which has PFAS adsorption technology, to raise its presence in the strictly regulated US market.Filing ↗
Says it has assembled survey equipment for PFOA and PFOS contamination and is actively marketing to local governments and the Ministry of the Environment.Filing ↗
Lists development of a filtration unit with PFAS removal for drinking water as a research theme.Filing ↗
Describes its LCMS-8065XE liquid chromatograph mass spectrometer as aimed at the PFAS analysis market, which grows as sensitivity improves.Filing ↗
Says it won a study contract on PFOS and PFOA measures for drainage at a Defense Ministry base, responded to a PFOS leak at a university, and ran trials to reduce PFAS in landfill leachate and raw water.Filing ↗
Says it is developing products that use excimer light to break down hazardous substances, especially PFAS.Filing ↗
Says it is establishing analysis techniques and optimizing treatment technology for PFAS.Filing ↗
Most of the 79 companies that use a PFAS term are chemical and parts makers developing or selling PFAS-free materials and components, which the three questions do not target.
View detailed resultsThis report is based on annual securities reports as of November 9, 2026.
Asking the 90 companies the three questions one at a time, 2 were supported on analysis, 0 on removal sales and 3 on removal plans.
| Question | Supported | Companies |
|---|---|---|
| Sales from analysis | 2 | Nitto Seiko, IDEA |
| Sales from removal | 0 | None |
| Plans to expand removal | 3 | Kurita, EnBio, Ebara Jitsugyo |
The order matched the hypothesis. But analysis itself is split. Initial sales of Nitto Seiko's organic fluorine analyzer, launched in 2024, have run their course, and its environmental sales fell year on year. Utilities and labs buy an analyzer once. Tests, though, are needed every three months, every time. What GL Techno Holdings named as a support for profit was consumables, not instruments. Analysis demand is shifting from instruments to the consumables and contract testing needed each time water is measured.
Against total sales, though, it is still small. Only Nitto Seiko gives an amount: its environmental market, which includes chlorine meters as well as PFAS analyzers, had sales of ¥189 million in January to June 2026. That is 0.7% of its ¥25.4 billion total, and was 1.4% a year earlier. GL Techno Holdings and IDEA Consultants do not disclose PFAS figures. The segments that include PFAS are 45.7% of sales for GL Techno's analytical equipment and 64.8% for IDEA's environmental consulting, and PFAS is only part of each.
Not one of the 90 companies reported sales from removal. Of the 3 supported on removal plans, Kurita invested in a US company, while EnBio and Ebara Jitsugyo are still trialing methods and equipment in Japan. Japan's limit is 50 nanograms per liter for PFOS and PFOA combined; the US limit for drinking water is 4 nanograms each. The stricter the limit, the more plants need removal equipment.
In Japan, removal demand comes from plants that exceed the limit. At plants that already use activated carbon, like Chatan in Okinawa, replacing the carbon is ongoing demand. Analysis already shows in sales, and within analysis, consumables and contract testing grow next. Removal has yet to reach Japanese companies' results, and the first numbers will come from companies like Kurita that are expanding removal in the stricter US.
Katana narrows companies with its own metrics, and AI reads annual reports to judge qualitative conditions. For complex theses and company profiles, the selection you used to do one company at a time, AI now runs across the Japanese market.
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