Industry News
Chemical Industry News
Evonik sells Indonesia betaines ops to S Korea’s Aekyung Chemical
SINGAPORE (ICIS)--Evonik and its joint venture (JV) partner Indonesia’s Sumi Asih have sold their betaines business in Bekasi, Indonesia, as it transitions to sustainable specialty chemicals, the...
Plant status: China’s PetroChina Fushun restarts SBR plant
SINGAPORE (ICIS)--Here is a plant status report: Name: PetroChina Fushun PC Location: Fushun, Liaoning, China Product: Styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) Capacity (tonnes/year): 200,000 Event start: Late...
Stable to soft PE CFR East Med prices, pending additional GCC-origin offers
DUBAI (ICIS)--Polyethylene (PE) DEL Jordan prices remained stable during the week ended 31 October 2025, while CFR East Med prices followed a stable to soft price direction on the back of surfacing...
Plant status: Malaysia’s PRefChem to suspend BD operations with cracker maintenance
SINGAPORE (ICIS)--Here is a plant status report: Name: Pengerang Refining and Petrochemical (PRefChem) Location: Pengerang, Malaysia Product: Butadiene (BD) Capacity (tonnes/year): 185,000 Event...
S Korea petrochemical Oct exports fall 22.0%; PMI contracts again
SINGAPORE (ICIS)- South Korea’s petrochemical shipments fell 22.0% year on year to $31 billion in October, while semiconductor exports remained robust, official data showed on 1 November....
Taiwan’s Da Fon automates rPE, rPP plants to boost efficiency
SINGAPORE (ICIS)--Major recycled polyolefins producer Da Fon Environmental Technology (Da Fon) has achieved full automation at its recycled polyethylene (rPE) and recycled polypropylene (rPP) plants...
India PE prices hit fresh multi-year lows amid weak demand, softer offers
MUMBAI (ICIS)--India’s polyethylene (PE) prices slumped to fresh multi-year lows in the week ended 31 October 2025, pressured by weak downstream demand and softer offers in the market. Buyers...
FPCC cuts October BD contract in Taiwan
SINGAPORE (ICIS)--Formosa Petrochemical Corp (FPCC) has set its October butadiene (BD) contract in Taiwan at $995/tonne, $88/tonne lower than September, a company source said. Its September BD...
Stable PP prices, slow trade activity in East Med ahead of November’s price announcements
DUBAI (ICIS)--Polypropylene (PP) prices in the East Mediterranean (East Med) market during the week ended 31 October 2025 remained stable, ahead of November's price announcements by major GCC-based...
SABIC says Saudi MTBE plant starts up; China JV complex 87% complete
SINGAPORE (ICIS)--SABIC said that the 1 million tonne/year methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) plant of its affiliate Petrokemya in Saudi Arabia has successfully started up ahead of plan in October,...
Asia titanium dioxide spot prices may be pressured on China seasonal lull
SINGAPORE (ICIS)--Asia's titanium dioxide (TiO2) spot pricing may enjoy support at the start of November. However, as the China domestic market enters its seasonal lull, some makers may be tempted to...
Plant status: China’s Shandong Binhua New Materials shuts PDH unit
SINGAPORE (ICIS)--Here is a plant status report: Name: Shandong Binhua New Materials Location: Binzhou, Shandong, China Product: Propylene Capacity (tonnes/year): 600,000 Event start: 1 November...
Asia PA market softens amid weak demand and cautious sentiment
SINGAPORE (ICIS)--Phthalic anhydride (PA) markets across Asia softened during the week ending 31 October amid sluggish downstream demand and cautious sentiment. In China, orthoxylene (OX) feedstock...
Whole gas-year French liquidity falls for first time in four years
Falling curve liquidity sees overall trading activity decline year on year Monthly contracts remain most traded despite drops LNG demand could continue to boost spot liquidity in gas year 2025 LONDON...
China BPA average plant run rate falls further to 66.7% on plant maintenance
SINGAPORE (ICIS)--China’s bisphenol A (BPA) plants posted an average run rate at 66.7% in the week ended 31 October 2025, down by 2.8 percentage points from the last reporting period, ICIS data...
When Electrons Sing in Harmony — and Sense the Shape of Their Home
Physicists at the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter (MPSD) in Hamburg have discovered a striking new form of quantum behavior. In star-shaped Kagome crystals—named after a traditional Japanese bamboo-basket woven
Battery of the Future: Solid-state Chemistry for High-energy Cells
Lithium-sulfur batteries represent a promising alternative to conventional lithium-ion systems. To overcome existing technological hurdles of this cell chemistry, the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS and its partners are investigating a new
Sustainable chemistry with the help of Artificial Intelligence
Amidation reactions are the most common reactions in the chemical industry. They are indispensable for a wide range of industrial production processes, but their ecological footprint is highly problematic. They generate large amounts of toxic
India’s DGTR corrects PVC ADD notification, Taiyo duty lowered to $64/tonne
MUMBAI (ICIS)--India’s Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) has revised the anti-dumping duty on Japan’s Taiyo Vinyl Corporation to $64/tonne, down from the $87/tonne stated earlier in...
China, S Korea ink 7 agreements during APEC to strengthen ties
SINGAPORE (ICIS)--China and South Korea signed seven new agreements on trade, finance, and emerging industries during the latest APEC summit as both sides seek to expand bilaterial cooperation and...