Asian Markets
September 29, 2026
OCI to Exit TDI Production and Sales
South Korea’s OCI announced its withdrawal from the TDI business, and will cease production and sales from December 18.
2026-09-29 15:07:48Source: Toocle Headlines
On September 29, 2026, South Korea’s OCI announced that its board of directors had approved the termination of the toluene diisocyanate (TDI) manufacturing and sales business, and plans to officially cease relevant production and sales from December 18, 2026. OCI’s current TDI production capacity is approximately 50,000 tons per year.
According to the announcement, OCI’s TDI business achieved sales of approximately 117.947 billion Korean won in 2025, accounting for 5.87% of the company’s consolidated sales. The company stated that the exit from TDI is mainly to “sort out marginal businesses and improve profitability”, and it will enhance corporate and shareholder value by optimizing the business portfolio, rather than packaging and selling the plant.
OCI also reminded that the specific suspension date may be adjusted according to the progress of the exit. With its withdrawal from the TDI sector, the execution of existing orders, inventory digestion and the supply pattern of TDI in the Asia-Pacific region and globally deserve continuous attention.
September 8, 2026
Chinese Propylene Oxide Update
SunSirs: The Propylene Oxide Market Saw an Upward Shift in Its Price Center in August
2026-09-08 12:25:01Source:ChemNet
In August, the domestic propylene oxide market exhibited a wide-ranging “M-shaped” fluctuation pattern, with the overall price level shifting significantly upward. Data from the SunSirs monitoring system indicates that as of August 31, the benchmark price for propylene oxide stood at 9,350 RMB/ton, marking a 1.63% increase compared to the beginning of the month.
Raw Materials: There is strong cost-side support. Prices for the feedstock propylene remain high. According to the SunSirs monitoring system, the benchmark price for propylene stood at 8,721.00 RMB/ton as of August 31, marking a 10.01% increase from the beginning of the month (7,927.67 RMB/ton). International oil prices have trended upward due to geopolitical tensions, further solidifying the cost floor across the industry chain. Under the pressure of high costs, many production processes within the industry are operating at a loss, creating a strong price floor for propylene oxide.
Supply side: Market supplies remained tight due to a concentration of plant maintenance shutdowns. Domestic propylene oxide production in August totaled 499,800 tonnes—down 0.64% month-on-month and 5.70% year-on-year—with the capacity utilization rate falling to 60.25%. Multiple units, including those at Zhenhai Phase II, Qixiang, Lianhong, and Satellite Chemical, were offline; an unexpected shutdown of Wanhua Chemical’s Phase III unit further exacerbated the tight spot supply situation. Total production losses due to maintenance remained at a high level of approximately 220,000 tonnes for the month.
Demand side: Overall performance remains weak. August falls within the traditional off-season for demand, with sluggish trading activity in sectors such as upholstered furniture, home appliances, and automobiles. Downstream polyether manufacturers and the end-user foam industry are strongly resistant to high-priced raw materials, limiting procurement primarily to small, essential orders with little growth in new order volumes. However, continued external purchasing by major players like Wanhua Chemical has, to some extent, offset this weak demand.
Overall Forecast: Market variables are increasing in September. On the supply side, facilities such as those of Lianhong New Materials and Shenghua New Materials are expected to resume production, potentially leading to a gradual rise in supply pressure; however, large-scale facilities are still scheduled for maintenance in the second half of the year. On the demand side, the arrival of the traditional “Golden September and Silver October” peak season is likely to drive a moderate recovery in downstream demand. Overall, the propylene oxide market is expected to experience fluctuating trends in September, shaped by the interplay between cost support and supply-demand dynamics; key factors to monitor include the actual progress of facility restarts and the recovery of downstream demand during the peak season.
September 3, 2026
Asian Shipment Delays
Over 50% of vessels delayed at Asia’s busiest container ports
Congestion at Asian ports has been driven by extreme weather events and wider supply chain disruption
Marcus Hand,Editor
September 3, 2026
Credit: Pixabay
Analysts Sea-Intelligence say that all 14 of the busiest container ports in Asia have seen a decline in on-time vessel arrivals.
The world’s two largest container ports – Shanghai and Ningbo-Zhoushan have been consecutive typhoons this year, most recently typhoon Saudel last week causing severe delays at the ports.
Ningbo, which became the world’s second largest container port in the first half of 2026, saw its reliability fall by 20.1 percentage points to 34.6% in the month of July according to Sea-Intelligence.
The analyst described the picture in Shanghai as “particularly alarming” with a 19.2 percentage points drop in reliability resulting in just 21% of vessels arriving on time at port in July.
“Outside of extreme pandemic‑era supply chain disruptions, schedule reliability in Shanghai has never dropped this low in 14 years of recorded data,” commented Alan Murphy, CEO of Sea-Intelligence.
The largest drop in schedule reliability among top Asian ports was seen at Yantian in South China with a 23.5 percentage point plunge to 48.3% in July. Hong Kong also saw a 20.4 percentage point drop in reliability to 51.6% for July.
The fall in reliability was pronounced at the world’s largest transhipment hub of Singapore with a 5.7% percentage point drop in July, however reliability sat at just 43.2% Sea-Intelligence said. Looking at other ports in the region Port Klang had 33.3% reliability and Busan 40.9%.
The growth in delays at major Asian ports has driven a drop in schedule reliability for container to 56.1% falling 6.1 percentage points the steepest single month decline since the height of the pandemic in January 2021 the analyst said.
“With the region’s busiest ports operating with more than half of their incoming vessels delayed, this backlog will naturally cascade through the maritime network, likely triggering a new wave of delays for critical head‑haul trade lanes in the coming months,” Murphy said.
Port congestion in Asia is pushing lines to end two and half year long rerouting of Asia – Europe services via the Cape of Good Hope back to the Suez Canal and the Red Sea despite the ongoing security threat from the Houthi in Yemen with its “blockade” of Saudi Arabian ports.
August 17, 2026
Sinochem to Expand HDI Capacity
Sinochem International increases investment in the HDI sector, with planned domestic capacity exceeding 500,000 tons.
2026-08-17 09:15:33Source:ChemNet中文
Recently, the Department of Ecology and Environment of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region accepted and publicized the environmental impact report for the 100,000 tons/year HDI and 180,000 tons/year Phosgene Expansion and Renovation Project (Phase I) and the 13,000 tons/year Chlorinated Ester Expansion Project of Ningxia Ruitai Technology Co., Ltd.
The project is planned and constructed as a whole to include 100,000 tons/year HDI, 100,000 tons/year HDI trimer, and 180,000 tons/year phosgene, with a co-production of 290,000 tons/year 30% hydrochloric acid; the project is implemented in three phases. The current phase promotes Phase I, involving the construction of a new 20,000 tons/year phosgene unit. Upon completion, the company’s total phosgene capacity will increase from the existing 30,000 tons/year to 50,000 tons/year.
Project Background: Filling the Phosgene Capacity Gap and Supporting Downstream High-end Products
Ningxia Ruitai Technology is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Jiangsu Yangnong Chemical, a subsidiary of Sinochem International. Established in 2010, the company currently possesses multiple production units including phosgene series products and nylon 66. The existing chlorinated ester capacity is 8,000 tons/year, and the products are supplied externally for the production of EHP and TBEC raw materials.
There are two major practical drivers for this expansion and renovation. On one hand, the company’s existing 30,000 tons/year phosgene capacity can hardly meet the full-load operation of downstream units. As a core intermediate for polyurethane and polycarbonate, phosgene capacity has become a bottleneck restricting the company’s development. On the other hand, this expansion simultaneously supports chlorinated ester capacity. After the project lands, the chlorinated ester capacity will increase from 8,000 tons/year to 13,000 tons/year. Meanwhile, new catalytic desulfurization facilities will be added to optimize the quality of phosgene products, laying a solid raw material foundation for the subsequent production of high-end HDI products.
HDI: High-end Aliphatic Isocyanate, Key Raw Material for New Energy Coatings
HDI, or hexamethylene diisocyanate, belongs to high-end aliphatic isocyanates. It differs significantly from aromatic isocyanates like MDI and TDI. Its molecules contain no benzene rings and feature a saturated aliphatic chain structure. It possesses outstanding characteristics such as yellowing resistance, weather resistance, corrosion resistance, and high light transmission. It is an indispensable curing agent raw material for high-end polyurethane coatings and adhesives. The phosgene method is also the current mainstream production process for high-performance HDI.
HDI is mostly used in scenarios with long-term outdoor exposure and stringent requirements for aging resistance, including automotive OEM topcoats, architectural exterior wall coatings, industrial heavy-duty anti-corrosion paints, high-end wood varnishes, and yacht protective coatings. It can effectively solve industry pain points such as easy yellowing, fast aging, and short service life of traditional coatings.
For a long time in the past, the global HDI market was monopolized by overseas enterprises. Foreign companies like Covestro and BASF dominated market supply, while domestic supply of high-end products was insufficient, leading to a high dependence on imports. However, in recent years, Asia has become the core region for global HDI capacity expansion, and domestic chemical enterprises have accelerated their layout in the HDI track, speeding up the import substitution process.
Industry Expansion Wave: Multiple Chemical Giants Enter the Market, Planned Capacity Under Construction Exceeds 500,000 Tons
Regarding overseas manufacturers:
· Covestro completed the acquisition of Converge’s HDI derivative base in July 2026, with existing HDI capacity of 190,000 tons/year;
· Nippon Polyurethane (NPU) has existing capacity of 15,000 tons/year and plans to expand by 50%, with new capacity expected to come on stream around August 2026;
· Asahi Kasei has existing capacity of 22,000 tons/year.
Domestic enterprises are accelerating to seize the market:
· Wanhua Chemical has a total existing HDI capacity of 209,000 tons after acquiring Converge assets. Combined with the Ningbo technical renovation project, the long-term total capacity will expand to 309,000 tons/year;
· Meirui New Materials has formed 100,000 tons/year HDI monomer and derivative capacity in its Henan Industrial Park, with another 200,000 tons under construction;
· NHU (Zhejiang Medicine) plans 103,000 tons/year HDI in its Weifang, Shandong project;
· Oriental Shenghong‘s subsidiary Lianyungang Hongke New Materials is investing 13.33 billion yuan to build an industrial chain project, laying out 50,000 tons/year HDI, simultaneously supporting TDI, PC, and BPA units, to create an integrated “Refining-Aromatics-BPA-PC/TDI/HDI” industrial chain.
According to industry statistics, the total planned HDI capacity awaiting production in the domestic stage has already exceeded 500,000 tons. In the future, the domestic self-sufficiency capability of HDI will be significantly improved, and the industry competitive landscape will usher in a reshaping.
Downstream Demand Explodes at Multiple Points, New Energy Field Opens Incremental Space
In addition to the traditional coatings market, the application of HDI in emerging industries is expanding rapidly, with continuous demand growth in areas such as electrophoretic paints, ultra-wear-resistant floor paints, wind power blade and tower protection coatings, and photovoltaic backsheet structural adhesives.
· Automotive Industry, BMW i-series electric vehicle OEM varnishes use an HDI curing agent system, with a weather resistance life of over 10 years, a 50% increase compared to traditional coatings;
· Wind Power Field, Huntsman’s WindCoat™3025 coating containing HDI trimer is applied to blades in a 60MW domestic offshore wind farm, with salt spray resistance breaking through 3,000 hours;
· Photovoltaic Industry, HDI-based materials are used in N-type modules with a light transmittance of up to 99.3%, a 2 percentage point increase compared to traditional EVA encapsulant films. With the continuous development of new energy vehicles, offshore wind power, and the photovoltaic industry, HDI’s long-term demand has strong support.
July 20, 2026
Chinese TDI Market
Brief Analysis of China’s TDI Imports and Exports in H1 2026
July 20, 2026 1 min read
In the first half of 2026, China’s TDI exports maintained rapid growth, reaching approximately 332,100 tonnes, up 24.2% year on year. Imports totaled around 2,180 tonnes, an increase of 144.9% year on year. Overall, China’s TDI trade remained heavily export-oriented, with imports accounting for only a small share. Export volume was approximately 152 times the import volume.
1. TDI Imports
Unit: tonnes
China imported approximately 310 tonnes of TDI in June, up 588.9% month on month and 113.8% year on year. The increase was mainly attributable to shipments from Japan, Saudi Arabia and Germany. Japan was the largest overseas source during the month, supplying 150 tonnes.
From January to June 2026, China imported approximately 2,180 tonnes of TDI, up 144.9% from 890 tonnes in the same period of 2025. However, around 750 tonnes were recorded with China as the trading partner, which may have involved re-imports, bonded-zone transfers or returned shipments. Therefore, imports originating from overseas suppliers were lower than the headline figure.
2. TDI Exports
Unit: tonnes
China exported approximately 56,600 tonnes of TDI in June, up 22.5% month on month and 17.7% year on year. Brazil remained the largest export destination, receiving around 7,111 tonnes, followed by Belgium, India, Vietnam and Türkiye.
From January to June 2026, China’s TDI exports totaled approximately 332,100 tonnes, an increase of about 64,800 tonnes from 267,300 tonnes in the same period of 2025, representing year-on-year growth of 24.2%. Brazil ranked first with around 29,600 tonnes, followed by Vietnam, Belgium, India and Indonesia. The top ten markets accounted for approximately 54.7% of total exports, while all other markets represented 45.3%, indicating a relatively diversified export destination mix.
https://www.pudaily.com/news/65812/brief-analysis-of-chinas-tdi-imports-and-exports-in-h1-2026
Everchem Updates Archive 
Sign Up for Email Updates