The Urethane Blog
September 9, 2026
Dow is said to consider sale of stake in $20B Saudi chemical venture
Sep 09, 2026, 7:50 AM ETDow Inc. (DOW) Stock, ARMCO StockBy: Rob Williams, SA News Editor
Dow Inc. (DOW) is exploring a possible exit from Sadara Chemical Co., its $20 billion joint venture with Saudi Aramco (ARMCO), as the U.S. company restructures its portfolio during a prolonged chemical-industry downturn, Bloomberg News reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Dow (DOW) owned 35% of Sadara as of last year, while Aramco held the remaining interest. Aramco (ARMCO) could acquire Dow’s stake, though other corporate buyers or financial investors may also consider bids. Discussions remain preliminary, and Dow could decide against a sale.
For investors, a divestiture could reduce Dow’s exposure to Sadara’s debt and future cash requirements while freeing capital for businesses with stronger expected returns. The financial benefit would depend heavily on the sale price and whether Dow retains any guarantees or other obligations.
Established in 2011, Sadara operates 26 manufacturing units capable of producing more than 3 million metric tons of chemicals and plastics annually.
Dow (DOW) also has exposure to the venture through a guarantee on a $500 million revolving credit facility intended to cover possible funding shortfalls. Sadara drew $80 million from that facility during the fourth quarter of 2025, according to Dow.
Sadara remains strategically important to Aramco (ARMCO), which is expanding its chemical operations to generate more value from its hydrocarbon production. The venture also supports Saudi Arabia’s effort to develop industries beyond oil. Aramco (ARMCO) separately controls Sabic, the kingdom’s largest chemical producer.
September 8, 2026
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 7, 2026
Deutsche Bank: August US Auto Sales Beat Forecasts, But Incentives Remain A Factor
by Tyler Durden
Friday, Sep 04, 2026 – 02:40 PM
U.S. auto sales came in stronger than expected in August, offering another sign that consumer demand for new vehicles remains relatively resilient despite elevated borrowing costs and broader questions about the economy.
According to Deutsche Bank’s auto team, led by Edison Yu, August sales ran at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of roughly 16.9 million vehicles. That was comfortably ahead of the bank’s 16.4 million estimate and also above the roughly 16.4 million pace recorded a year earlier.
The headline SAAR number was strong, although the underlying monthly figures were somewhat less impressive. Automakers sold approximately 1.388 million vehicles during August, slightly above July’s 1.380 million but below the roughly 1.482 million vehicles sold in August 2025.
Sales among both the Detroit Three and major Japanese automakers were modestly better than Deutsche Bank expected. But Hyundai Group was one of the biggest contributors to the upside surprise, beating the bank’s forecast by approximately 14,000 vehicles. Other brands accounted for the remainder of the beat.
The closely watched large pickup market was more mixed. Daily sales declined for most major truck models, but Ram was a notable exception. Ram sales increased by roughly 105 vehicles per day to around 1,550, with Deutsche Bank attributing much of that strength to aggressive incentive spending.
Higher sales are obviously positive for volumes, but when they are being generated through heavier discounts and incentives, the improvement doesn’t necessarily translate into equally strong profitability for manufacturers.
Inventory remains relatively controlled. Industry-wide inventories slipped to approximately 49 days of supply, compared with 50 days previously, although that remains above the 47-day level seen in 2025. Truck inventories declined by one day to 52 days of supply, while passenger-car inventories dropped by two days to just 34.
Taken together, the August numbers paint a reasonably healthy picture of the U.S. auto market. Sales are running better than expected, inventories aren’t showing signs of a major glut, and the annualized selling rate remains comfortably above 16 million vehicles.
Deutsche Bank isn’t extrapolating August’s 16.9 million pace into a dramatically stronger industry forecast, however. Yu and his team continue to expect a 16.0 million SAAR for full-year 2026, roughly consistent with forecasts from the major automakers themselves. For 2027, Deutsche Bank is forecasting only a modest improvement to 16.1 million.
In other words, August was a good month, but Deutsche Bank isn’t calling it the beginning of an auto boom. The more interesting question from here may be how much manufacturers have to spend on incentives to keep sales around these levels…particularly if consumers remain squeezed by high vehicle prices and financing costs.
September 6, 2026
El Nino Crushes Atlantic Hurricane Activity, Lowest Since 1941
by Tyler Durden
Friday, Sep 04, 2026 – 06:50 PM
The peak of the Atlantic hurricane season arrives next Thursday, yet by this point the basin would normally have produced multiple systems tracking through the Caribbean, the Gulf of America, and the open Atlantic. This year, however, a strengthening El Niño and record vertical wind shear are tearing apart disturbances before they can rapidly intensify.
Bloomberg reports that only five short-lived tropical storms have formed this season, and none has intensified into a hurricane. The Atlantic has not recorded so little activity at this point in the season since 1941.
“We’re crushing all sorts of shear records this year,” said Phil Klotzbach, lead author of Colorado State University’s annual seasonal forecast. “The models are so anemic on storm development coming up in the next 10 days too.”
Forecasters and researchers are tracking accumulated cyclone energy, or ACE, which measures the combined strength and duration of tropical storms and hurricanes during a season.
“We currently have an ACE of 4.4,” Klotzbach said. That is the lowest since 1941. A low ACE indicates that storms have generally been weak or short-lived, reflecting the fact that no tropical disturbance has intensified into a hurricane.
For the US energy complex, the absence of hurricane activity is great news. Gulf Coast refineries, offshore platforms, pipelines, and LNG export terminals have avoided precautionary shutdowns, allowing facilities to operate near full capacity as the global refined-products crisis deepens. This has been a boon for US producers as the country exports record volumes of crude oil and diesel.
Still, a lull in tropical activity does not entirely rule out the possibility of a destructive late-season storm, as roughly 12.5 weeks remain before the season ends on November 30.
Meanwhile, Southern California and Hawaii are bracing for potential impacts from tropical systems over Labor Day weekend.
“It just seems like it’s one storm after another out there because of the atmospheric conditions and the water being pretty warm,” Robbie Berg, a warning coordination meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center, told the outlet, referring to the activity in the Pacific.
El Niño Impacts
“For an El Niño year, this is what we would expect,” Berg said.
https://www.zerohedge.com/weather/el-nino-crushes-atlantic-hurricane-activity-lowest-1941
September 3, 2026
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.
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