Industry News
Chemical Industry News
Europe styrene spot activity hits multi-month record on supply concerns
LONDON (ICIS)--Spot activity peaked in the Europe styrene market in the week ended 16 January, with trade for January, February, and March loading reported. Reported spot volume traded for January...
Plant Status: Egypt’s OPC PP production shut until end of February
LONDON (ICIS)--Here is a plant status report: Name: Oriental Petrochemicals Company (OPC) Location: Ain Sokhna, Egypt Product: Polypropylene (PP) Capacity (tonnes/year): 225,000 Event start: Late...
Henkel in talks to acquire specialty chemicals company Stahl
LONDON (ICIS)--German adhesives producer Henkel is in discussions to acquire Netherlands-based specialty chemicals and coatings company Stahl Holdings. Stahl is majority-owned by French investment...
Tariff fears continue to roil Europe chems as EU President calls for more integration
LONDON (ICIS)--Renewed trade tensions and the fear of fresh tariffs on some European nations continue to weigh on the region's chemical stocks, as Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is calling...
Instability in Iran boosts urea prices again
LONDON (ICIS)--Heightened instability in Iran has raised fresh concerns about the availability of urea exports and if plants will be able to restart as planned in late February. At the same time,...
UREA: Algeria’s AOA sells 25,000 tonnes at $461/tonne FOB
In Algeria, AOA Edeola/Bahwan is understood to have sold a 25,000 tonne cargo of granular urea to Europe at $461/tonne FOB. During the previous trading week, the Algerian urea and ammonia producer...
MOVES: Trinseo expands board after talks with financial stakeholders
HOUSTON (ICIS)--Trinseo has added two independent directors to its board after talks with financial stakeholders about its capital structure, the US-based styrenics and engineered materials producer...
New reagents take the burn out of butyllithium
Merck KGaA’s non-pyrophoric butyllithium in poly(α-olefin) oil make BuLi stable to air and water
European LNG terminal 2026 maintenance schedules
LONDON (ICIS)--European LNG terminals have various planned maintenance work scheduled for 2026, which may affect the terminals send out and access. Here is an initial list that ICIS will update over...
INSIGHT: Suez Canal reopening will heap pressure on Europe chemicals
BARCELONA (ICIS)--As Maersk resumes regular services through the Suez Canal, the prospect of a broader reopening of this important route which links Asia and the Middle East with Europe and the US...
GAS ALERT: BBL pipeline announced additional reduced tariff capacity for Britain to Netherlands summer flows on multi-gas year bookings
LONDON (ICIS)--BBL company announced an additional 1 GWh/h of available capacity under its booking incentive for seasonal reverse flow capacity. Multiyear bookings for summer firm reverse flow...
Germany’s economic confidence jumps in January on stronger exports
LONDON (ICIS)--Current and future economic confidence improved among financial analysts in January on the back of stronger demand for export-oriented industries, including chemicals, research...
Construction in Europe declines in November, reversing previous growth trend
LONDON (ICIS)--European construction output declined in November, reversing gains from the previous month, according to the latest data from Eurostat on Tuesday. Production fell 1.1% in both the EU...
China’s MX prices pressured by slowing procurement from PX producers
SINGAPORE (ICIS)--The growth momentum in China’s mixed xylenes (MX) prices may slow as the intensity of procurement from paraxylene (PX) producers eases. Cost side supported by higher crude values...
Plant status: China’s Wanhua restarts MDI Ningbo plant after maintenance
SINGAPORE (ICIS)--Here is a plant status report: Name: Wanhua Chemical Location: Ningbo, Zhejiang, China Product: Methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) Capacity (tonnes/year): 1 million Event start:...
Brazil’s urea imports decline in 2025 as ammonium sulphate grabs share
LONDON (ICIS)-- Brazil’s urea imports fell by 7% in 2025 to 7.7 million tonnes, down from a record 8.3 million tonnes in 2024, customs data shows, as farmers switched to ammonium sulphate (AS), a...
Borealis invests €49m to expand PP production in Burghausen, Germany
LONDON (ICIS)--Borealis is investing €49 million to scale up its polypropylene (PP) production site in Burghausen, Germany, the producer announced on Tuesday. The announcement did not mention any...
Plant status: Planned maintenance at Shell’s Wesseling, Germany cracker due in H2 – sources
LONDON (ICIS)--Here is a plant status report: Name: Shell Location: Wesseling, Germany Products: Ethylene, propylene Capacity (tonnes/year): 315,000 (ethylene), 195,000 (propylene) Event start:...
Three centuries of Roman limescale reveals a dirty secret about Pompeii’s public baths
Carbon isotope ratios suggest that pre-aqueduct, the water was often contaminated with human waste
How do gold nanorods become nanometer-sized electrolyzers?
For the first time, a research group at the University of Potsdam has succeeded in tracking and quantifying the light-induced accumulation of charge on gold nanorods in real time. A new physical model of this