Industry News

This section contains information and comments on China´s chemical industry, as posted from January 2026 onwards. Entries are not revised later. For older entries, see separate sections. For daily updates, please join the LinkedIn group "News and Trends in China´s Chemical Industry".---

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Feb 18, 2026: DiscoveryAlert has an interesting and detailed post on how the revenue from sulfuric acid rather than from processing copper is now the main profit source of China's copper smelters.

Comment MCC: This is due to a number of factors including reduced sulfur supply from other sources, increased demand for sulfuric acid, excess copper smelting capacities, and limited supply of copper ore.

https://discoveryalert.com.au/industrial-chemistry-revolution-transformi...

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Feb 17, 2026: Year-on-year producer prices in China's chemical industry fell by 5.8% in January 2026.

Comment MCC: This decline was at least partly driven by a decline of fuel and power prices by 7.1%.

https://www.cinic.org.cn/hy/hg/1624160.html

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Feb 16, 2026: The SunSirs website has a review of newly added production capacity for eight domestic chemical products in 2026.

Comment MCC: For example, PP is projected to add 5.7 million tons of new capacity in 2026, an increase by more than 10%. This does not sound like the anti-involution policy is very effective so far.

https://www.sunsirs.com/uk/detail_news-30566.html

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Feb 15, 2026: Fujian Baihong Chemical started a 410 kt/a carbonate complex, the biggest in China. It will produce 50 kt/a ethylene carbonate, 140 kt/a propylene carbonate, 100 kt/a dimethyl carbonate, and 120 kt/a methyl carbonate and diethyl carbonate.

Comment MCC: Presumably, these chemicals are deemed to be of strategic importance due to their use in high-purity lithium-ion battery electrolytes.

https://www.cinic.org.cn/hy/hg/1623883.html

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Feb 14, 2026: China's state broadcaster exposed the illegal use of the highly toxic and banned pesticide carbofuran to boost crop growth despite a nationwide prohibition.

Comment MCC: On the negative side, this still shows the disregard of some Chinese for the life of others - according to the report, the farmers using the carbofuran are well aware of its toxicity and would never think of consuming vegetables thus treated themselves. On the plus side, the fact that the state-run TV channel can report on this is a sign of progress in itself.

https://www.thestandard.com.hk/china-news/article/324010/

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Feb 13, 2026: China has approved the new national standard GB/T21558 "Rigid Polyurethane Foam for Building Insulation".

Comment MCC: This represents a comprehensive update from the 2008 version and will force the industry to upgrade its standard.

https://www.cinic.org.cn/hy/hg/1623354.html

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Feb 12, 2026: China's total adipic acid production capacity will climb to 4.455 million tons in 2026, while total output is expected to remain stable at around 2.77 million tons.

Comment MCC: Thus, the overall industry operating rate is expected to be around 60%, a historical low and an example of involution.

https://www.cinic.org.cn/hy/hg/1623355.html

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Feb 11, 2026: From 2020 to 2025, the revenue of China's petrochemical industry increased by 41.4% while profit increased by 36.2%.

Comment MCC: This indicates a CAGR of 7.2% for revenue (not 4%, as wrongly stated in the original source) and 6.4% for profit, indicating a decline in margins.

https://lnkd.in/gQkNrP94

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Feb 10, 2026: Eight people were killed in an explosion at Jiapeng Biotechnology, a biotechnology factory in central China.

Comment MCC: The company name may be somewhat misleading - apparently, the company is not only involved in bio-feed, but also in coal and related products, building materials, and paint manufacturing, making an accident more plausible. But biotechnology sounds more advanced, of course ...

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3342811/8-dead-biotech-workshop-...

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Feb 09, 2026: Chinese exports of battery and battery-energy-storage systems increased by 24% for the first three quarters of 2025.

Comment MCC: This is partly due to the relaxation of domestic requirements to match renewable energy projects with energy storage, which forced producers of storage systems to focus more on export markets.

https://dialogue.earth/en/energy/after-the-mandate-chinas-energy-storage...

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Feb 08, 2026: Arlanxeo inaugurated its new hydrogenated nitrile butadiene rubber plant in Changzhou, China.

Comment MCC: The strategic rationale provided includes further portfolio diversification, downstream integration, and the China focus of Aramco.

https://www.chemengonline.com/arlanxeo-inaugurates-new-rubber-plant-in-c...

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Feb 07, 2026: In January 2026, the CITIC Basic Chemicals Industry Index rose by 10.1%, outperforming the Shanghai Composite Index by 6.4%. Over the past year, the CITIC Basic Chemicals Index has risen by 56.4%, outperforming the Shanghai Composite Index by 29.7.

Comment MCC: This outperformance may at least partly be the result of the government's anti-involution policies, which aim at reducing overcapacity, particularly in undifferentiated products.

https://stock.finance.sina.com.cn/stock/go.php/vReport_Show/kind/lastest...

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Feb 06, 2026: During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, the average annual growth rate of demand for high-performance polyolefins, specialty engineering plastics, high-performance rubber, and high-performance fibers will reach 9%, 10%, 10%, and 14%.

Comment MCC: These rates are substantially above GDP growth and represent a strong focus on higher-end chemicals.

https://cj.sina.com.cn/articles/view/6192937794/17120bb4202002no5o

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Feb 05, 2026: Based on profit forecasts for 2026, several chemical sectors are expected to show improvement, including lithium batteries, refrigerants, pesticides, modified plastics, and explosives.

Comment MCC: In contrast, lower profits are expected for Chloralkali and photovoltaic companies.

https://www.cinic.org.cn/hy/hg/1622678.html

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Feb 04, 2026: Covestro completed the expansion of its TDI production capacity in Shanghai, from 310 kt to 370 kt.

Comment MCC: According to the company, the capacity expansion was achieved via debottlenecking and process improvement rather than substantial capital investment.

https://everchem.com/covestro-expands-tdi-in-china/

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Feb 03, 2026: AstraZeneca will invest 15 billion U.S. dollars in China through 2030 to expand medicines manufacturing and R&D facilities.

Comment MCC: Indeed, as also pointed out in a recent article in The Economist, China is increasingly at the forefront of medical innovation. The CEO of BASF also stated that China is becoming an increasingly important innovation hub, particularly in green technologies.

https://english.news.cn/20260201/b02b03d1324c4589bfb4eb1ac468450c/c.html

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Feb 02, 2026: In 2025, the chemical raw materials and chemical products manufacturing industry achieved a total profit of 376.62 billion yuan, a decrease of 7.3% compared with the previous year.

Comment MCC: A result in line with the involution the government now tries to stop.

https://www.cinic.org.cn/hy/hg/1622196.html

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Feb 01, 2026: In 2025, methanol prices in China fell by about 15% throughout the year. Operating rates for domestically produced methanol were 80% for coal-to-methanol and 49% for natural gas-to-methanol plants in 2025 with an overall rate of above 78% while imports increased by 5.9%.

Comment MCC: At the same time, domestic demand is relatively weak due to low profitability of polyolefins and limited emerging demand from methanol fuel.

https://www.cinic.org.cn/hy/hg/1622485.html

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Jan 31, 2026: Despite the current rise in chemical futures in the Chinese market, the sentiment among market participants is relatively negative, according to website stcn.com.

Comment MCC: The website cites one of these participants as follows: "The lack of significant increase in downstream orders is the core contradiction in the current chemical market". They attribute the quote to a purchasing manager of a downstream chemical manufacturing company in Hangzhou and, for good measure, add the comment "her tone filled with helplessness."

https://www.stcn.com/article/detail/3620963.html

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Jan 30, 2026: A Chinese government website reports substantial progress in environmental protection between 2021 and 2025.

Comment MCC: However, while the site gives numbers for several relevant emissions such as COD and VOC, these are not given as a share of total emissions, nor compared to potential increases during the period due to a growing economy. The only number relating to relative date is a doubling of the rural domestic sewage treatment rate to a still somewhat unimpressive 55%.

https://english.www.gov.cn/news/202601/28/content_WS697a013dc6d00ca5f9a0...

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Jan 29, 2026: According to China Daily, China has successfully achieved industrial-scale production of polyolefin elastomer.

Comment MCC: This is a material for which China so far strongly depended on imports, and as the material is regarded as an important input for strategic sectors such as renewable energy, China has a strong interest in producing this material domestically to reduce this dependency.

https://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202601/27/WS69781559a310d6866eb35e83....

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Jan 28, 2026: A recent post on website stcn.com states that while aromatic futures, including PX and PTA, have recently gained in the Chinese market, rises for olefin futures and coal chemicals were much more moderate.

Comment MCC: The site argues that the growth rate of aromatics capacity will be much lower than that of olefins in 2026, as there will be no new PTA capacity in 2026 and only one PX and EB unit, while inventories of olefin-based products remain high and downstream demand is weak.

https://www.stcn.com/article/detail/3610247.html

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Jan 27, 2026: According to the Facebook page of Ahram online, Xingfa Chemicals Group plans to invest $2 billion in a project for various phosphate products in Egypt.

Comment MCC: This is in line with recent similar investments by other Chinese chemical companies.

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Jan 26, 2026: S&P Global expects no slowdown of China's PX imports in 2026 after a 2.4% import growth in 2025.

Comment MCC: However, longer-term export prospects may be much less bright for countries such as Korea, as China will add additional PX capacity in late 2026 and in 2027.

https://www.spglobal.com/energy/en/news-research/latest-news/chemicals/0...

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Jan 25, 2026: China imports about 0.3% of its oil from Venezuela, and exports of chemical products to Venezuela do not exceed 0.6% of total Chinese exports, even for the biggest items.

Comment MCC: Thus, the changed situation in Venezuela with Trump taking over control of its oil exports will not have a major effect on the Chinese chemical industry.

https://www.bloominglobal.com/media/detail/us-strike-on-venezuela-implic...

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Jan 24, 2026: In 2025, Chinese drugmakers signed 135.7 billion U.S. dollars, a sharp rise from the 51.9 billion U.S. dollars in 2024.

Comment MCC: This is a sign of increased homegrown innovation that was also recognized in a recent article in The Economist.

https://en.people.cn/n3/2026/0119/c90000-20415952.html

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Jan 23, 2026: Chemical start-up Vioneo will build its 300 kt/yr methanol-to-polymers plant in China instead of Europe

Comment MCC: The reasons provided include closer proximity to green methanol and subsequent better pricing and faster route to market.

https://www.argusmedia.com/en/news-and-insights/latest-market-news/27775...

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Jan 22, 2026: China has more than doubled its ABS capacity from 2021 (4.12 mt/yr) to 2025 (9.99 mt/yr). Additional capacity is expected in the coming years.

Comment MCC: As a result, ABS capacity in China is significantly underutilized.

https://www.resourcewise.com/blog/global-chemical-value-chains-face-unev...

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Jan 21, 2026: A site named Economic Insights expects chemical companies in the fertilizer and pesticide sector to have the biggest profit increases in their 2025 results.

Comment MCC: Some of these companies doubled their profits in 2025.

https://www.eeo.com.cn/2026/0118/780405.shtml

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Jan 20, 2026: An accident at a chemical plant in Anhui, which occurred in October 2025, was the result of a violation of several work-safety-regulations by an employee. Employees were exposed to toxic gases while replacing frozen brine in a storage tank, resulting in 4 deaths.

Comment MCC: Indirect causes of the accident include weak safety management by the company and inadequate chemical plant safety oversight by the local government. Consequently, the company chairman was detained.

http://www.china.org.cn/2026-01/18/content_118286015.shtml

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Jan 19, 2026: China plans to encourage the use of recycled materials for packaging, along with expanding chemical recycling and upgrading waste sorting to allow for better use of recycled materials.

Comment MCC: The NDRC wants household waste to be treated as a valuable resource - not an easy task given the mix of waste seen in my compound, and the lax attitude toward sorting waste observed by me.

https://www.packaginginsights.com/news/china-packaging-recycling-plans.html

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Jan 18, 2026: Starting April 1st, China will end the current 13% VAT tax rebate on PVC.

Comment MCC: While this will boost exports before the deadline, it could decrease them afterwards.

https://www.spglobal.com/energy/en/news-research/latest-news/chemicals/0...

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Jan 17, 2026: Eastmoney Securities argues that the global chemical industry is experiencing a "rise in the East and fall in the West".

Comment MCC: In addition, the company argues that the current bad shape of the Chinese chemical industry offers plenty of upside but limited downside. Of course, this is also just a sales pitch for chemical ETFs

https://guba.eastmoney.com/news,sz159870,1653524447.html

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Jan 16, 2026: China Merchants Securities believes that some outdated production capacity in China will be eliminated.

Comment MCC: As a result, they expect that the overall supply and demand pattern of the industry will see marginal improvement, and product profitability will increase.

https://www.stcn.com/article/detail/3593780.html

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Jan 15, 2026: China launched an anti-dumping probe into dichlorosilane imports from Japan.

Comment MCC: Probably mostly an action to be seen as part of the current conflict between the two countries rather than an isolated trade issue. In addition, as dichlorosilane is used in chipmaking, China presumably wants to demonstrate and improve its independence on imports.

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/china-launches-anti-dumping-p...

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Jan 14, 2026: Echemi reports on the insolvency of three subsidiaries of Domo Chemicals.

Comment MCC: The rationale provided is that nylon produced by Domo is not cost-competitive with Chinese production due to high environmental standards and high energy costs, resulting in the following: "While Chinese peers produce nylon 6 at $800 per ton, Domo's cost likely exceeds $1,300-yet the market sells for only $1,100."

https://www.echemi.com/cms/2787555.html

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Jan 13, 2026: According to Xinhua, a Chinese industrial demonstration project can decompose hydrogen sulfide into high-purity hydrogen and sulfur.

Comment MCC: The project is capable of processing 100,000 cubic meters of H2S annually, indicating the limits of the demonstration project, as this is less than 400 kg per day, and only a very small share of the over 8 billion cubic meters of H2S processed annually in China. So, the technology needs to be upscaled successfully before having any true value.

https://english.news.cn/20260106/9f5a990ecc224c828d0e7833e4352539/c.html

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Jan 12, 2026: Chinese Capchem Technology plans to invest USD260 million in building a lithium-ion battery electrolyte solvent plant in Saudi Arabia and to increase production capacity of its electrolyte plant in Poland.

Comment MCC: The rationale provided by Capchem is the internationalization of its production and supply chain. The investment may also be well-aligned with Saudi Arabia's objective of becoming a major player in sustainable energy sources such as solar.

https://www.yicaiglobal.com/news/chinas-capchem-to-build-lithium-battery...

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Jan 11, 2026: Emissions of volatile chemical products in China mostly result from coatings and adhesives, coming both from industrial sources (two-thirds) and domestic ones (one-third).

Comment MCC: The study also found that emissions have different characteristics than in the US, containing more aromatic and nitrogen/sulfur compounds.

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2025JD044698?af=R

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Jan 10, 2026: BASF expects that around 80% of chemical industry growth to 20235 will be in the APAC region.

Comment MCC: This is mainly a justification for the massive investment of BASF in China, as BASF currently only achieves about 13% of its sales in China, an underrepresentation compared to the US and Europe.

https://www.marketscreener.com/news/risk-in-china-basf-invests-billions-...

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Jan 09, 2026: In the first 10 months of 2025, profits of Chinese chemical companies dropped by 5.4% compared to the same period in 2024.

Comment MCC: According to an analyst from Cinde, overcapacity and low demand are the main reasons, and both are likely to persist despite China's anti-involution policy

https://cen.acs.org/business/Chinas-chemical-makers-face-headwinds/104/w...

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Jan 08, 2026: Clariant anticipates more production shifting away from Europe

Comment MCC: Specifically, the company expects more than half its sales growth in the next 5 years to come from China.

https://cen.acs.org/business/economy/Europe-lights-chemical-plants/104/w...

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Jan 07, 2026: Wanhua recently issued an alert about counterfeited versions of its branded polycarbonate, sold at lower prices but with much inferior properties.

Comment MCC: In some way, this nicely illustrates the rise of Wanhua from a low-end chemical producer to a top-tier chemical company.

https://www.echemi.com/cms/2781516.html

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Jan 06, 2026: Stock prices of several Indian chemical companies are down by up to 49% from their 52-week highs. Companies affected include Neogen Chemicals, Clean Science and Technology, Balaji Amines, and Sudarshan Chemical Industries.

Comment MCC: Among the reasons given for the decline is the market entry of lower-priced imports from China, driven by overcapacity.

https://www.whalesbook.com/news/English/Chemicals/Chemical-Stocks-in-Fre...

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Jan 05, 2026: China's first million-ton-level "near-zero" carbon steel production line went operational in Zhanjiang, Guangdong

Comment MCC: The plant utilizes hydrogen instead of coke to produce steel from scrap. However, the "near-zero" claim for carbon dioxide reduction is somewhat rejected in the post itself, which states that "Compared to conventional steel production lines, the project is projected to achieve a carbon reduction of 50 percent to 80 percent."

http://english.scio.gov.cn/in-depth/2025-12/31/content_118254702.html

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Jan 04, 2026: A post on the website DiscoveryAlert has some figures illustrating the dominance of China in rare earths.

Comment MCC: While China "only" represents 60% of global ore concentration capacity, this increases to 90% for chemical separation, 95% for oxide purification, and 85% for magnet manufacturing.

https://discoveryalert.com.au/architecture-global-critical-materials-con...

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Jan 03, 2026: A source named Energiesmedia describes the production of green methanol by a Chinese company named Goldwind

Comment MCC: Basically, the production involves water hydrolysis to produce hydrogen, which is then reacted with captured carbon dioxide to produce methanol. This is an alternative to hydrogen that is better suited to use with existing infrastructure than hydrogen itself. However, the mentioned target capacity of about 0.5 million tons per year would still be well below 1% of China's annual methanol production and thus contribute only somewhat to the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions.

https://energiesmedia.com/china-hydrogen-500000-tons-to-be-mined/

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Jan 02, 2026: Wison Engineering delivered the world's first million-ton MTO plant to its client, Guangxi Huayi Energy, in late December

Comment MCC: The largest MTO plant already in operation is at Jiangsu Sailboat with a capacity of about 833 kt,o while typical sizes are in the order of 200-600 kto.

https://www.wison-engineering.com/en/newsinfo/122.html

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Jan  01, 2026: According to SunSirs, among the chemical compounds tracked, 3 experienced a more than 5% year-on-year price increase: Silver (8.8%), Dimethyl disulfide (8.7%) and battery grade Lithium hydroxide (6.5%).

Comment MCC: Some lithium producers such as Ganfeng project 30-40% demand growth in 2026, possibly accounting for the positive price trend despite the slump earlier in the year.

https://www.sunsirs.com/uk/detail_news-29261.html

 

https://discoveryalert.com.au/chinas-lithium-price-surge-analysis-2025/