Industry News
Chemical Industry News
East China’s SM inventory drops 19.7% with fewer arrivals
SINGAPORE (ICIS)--Styrene monomer (SM) inventory level in east China decreased by 19.7% from last reporting week with fewer arrivals, ICIS data showed on Wednesday. The total stock was at 97,900...
Plant status: S Korea’s BASF to shut TDI plant for planned maintenance
SINGAPORE (ICIS)--Here is a plant status report: Name: BASF Location: Yeosu, South Korea Product: Toluene diisocyanate (TDI) Capacity (tonnes/year): 160,000 Event start: 25 February 2026 Event...
Plant status: China’s LG Yongxing Chem ABS production runs at full tilt
SINGAPORE (ICIS)--Here is a plant status report: Name: LG Yongxing Chemical Location: Ningbo, Zhejiang, China Product: Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) Capacity (tonnes/year): 850,000 (from six...
INSIGHT: Reimagining ammonia trades in a CBAM world
SINGAPORE (ICIS)--With the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) in place since 1 January this year, the comparative CBAM-costs of ammonia imports are expected to gain influence in pricing...
Thermo Fisher Scientific and NVIDIA launch AI revolution in the laboratory
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. announced a strategic collaboration with NVIDIA to power AI-based solutions and laboratory automation at scale. The effort will leverage the NVIDIA Artificial Intelligence (AI) platform and Thermo Fisher Scientific solutions to
Plant status: China’s Zhongyuan Dahua runs melamine plant at 50%
SINGAPORE (ICIS)--Here is a plant status report: Name: Zhongyuan Dahua Location: Puyang, Henan, China Product: Melamine Capacity (tonnes/year): 60,000 (in total) Event start: January 2026 Event...
Electrochemical breakthrough turns nitrate waste into ammonia fuel
Ammonia (NH3) is essential for agriculture and plays an important role in next-generation carbon-free energy systems. Renewable NH3 synthesis is a supplementary or alternative to the traditional Haber-Bosch process. The electrochemical nitrate reduction reaction (NO3−RR) to NH3 offers a promising ro...
Biotech start-up scales green chemistry with new investment
Dutch biotech company Mevaldi B.V. announces an investment by ICOS Capital, alongside High-Tech Gründerfonds and ICIG Ventures. Mevaldi is a biotech company and pioneer in the field of building blocks for sustainable polymers and polyurethanes
Transform plant waste into next-generation safe batteries
Aqueous zinc-ion batteries promise safe, low-cost energy storage, but metallic zinc grows needle-like dendrites that short-circuit cells within a few hundred cycles. Now, a purely plant-derived hydrogel appears to solve the problem without resorting to
AI helps assess environmental risks from chemicals
The bioconcentration factor shows the concentration of chemical substances in fish as compared to the surrounding water. It is the standard measure for determining the bioaccumulation of chemicals in the environment. Until now it was
ICIG to take over Venator’s Duisburg site in Germany
LONDON (ICIS)--International Chemical Investors Group (ICIG) has agreed to take over Venator’s business activities at the Duisburg site in Germany, subject to approval by competition authorities,...
PODCAST: Race for Arctic region sparks heated debate
LONDON (ICIS)--Greenland has been holding the headlines in recent weeks as US President Donald Trump expressed an open interest in acquiring the world’s largest island amid claims of security risks...
US ammonia imports down by 3.49% in January-October 2025 year on year
LONDON (ICIS)--US ammonia imports dropped by 3.49% in January-October 2025 compared with the same period a year before, according to customs data. The main exporter was Canada, followed by Trinidad...
INVISTA plans to close facilities in UK and US
HOUSTON (ICIS)--INVISTA plans to discontinue production at its UK site in Gloucester and to close a precision machine shop at its US site in Martinsville, Virginia, affecting a total of about 150...
US small business optimism continues to rise, owners eye waning cost pressures
HOUSTON (ICIS)--US small business optimism rose for a second month in a row in December, according to the latest Small Business Optimism Index survey by the National Federation of Independent...
Export headwinds return China BDO market focus to domestic trade
SINGAPORE (ICIS)--Two unfavorable export policies, recently in the spotlight, are expected to curb China's 1,4-butanediol (BDO) exports and thus lead to the shift of market focus from actively...
ICIS EXPLAINS: EU ETS rules and LNG shipping – what to know
EU emissions regulation steps up for LNG in 2026 Unlikely to curb US LNG flows, but may decide cargo, vessel choice at margin ICIS forecasts increase in carbon prices next two years LONDON...
AI tool dramatically reduces computing power needed to find protein-binding molecules
New protocol is up to 10 million times faster than current docking-based methods
Purer silicon lets robust quantum computing get started on a new medium
System is highly accurate and amenable to scaling without compromising quality
Europe PA spot prices for both grades steady on slow activity
LONDON (ICIS)--European phthalic anhydride (PA) spot prices for both liquid and flake grades were assessed stable following slow activity in the week ending 9 January, as players were returning after...