Market Flash

Saudi Aramco is discussing discounts of up to around USD 9 per barrel on selected second-half October crude cargoes transferred ship-to-ship off Oman as Asian refiners face sharply higher freight and logistics costs.

• Saudi Aramco
• Crude Oil
• Ship to Ship
• Oil Freight
• Asian Refiners

Between September 22 and 25, India's Ministry of Commerce and Industry opened anti-dumping investigations into several Chinese chemical and pharmaceutical raw materials. The products named include glycine, copolymer polyols, amoxicillin trihydrate, montelukast sodium, and 6-aminopenicillanic acid (6-APA) — all key inputs for India's domestic pharma and chemical sectors. Glycine was filed first on September 22, followed by copolymer polyols on September 23, amoxicillin trihydrate and montelukast

• Anti-Dumping
• India
• FineChemicals

In September, U.S. oversight of the GLP-1 supply chain intensified on two fronts. On September 18, attorneys general from 20 states, led by Alabama, urged federal agencies to tighten or suspend new admissions to the FDA's GLP-1 Green List, citing traceability gaps that let foreign firms repackage and falsify batch data to funnel unapproved semaglutide and tirzepatide APIs into compounded weight-loss drugs. That same day, the FDA issued a warning letter to Empower Pharmacy, a major compounding su

• GLP-1
• API
• pharmaceutical industry

Middle Eastern crude exports are rebounding sharply, with Kpler data showing September volumes from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Iraq, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait reaching 12.8 million bpd, the highest since late February. Saudi Arabia leads the recovery at roughly 5.4 million bpd, more than double August, as Aramco shifted loadings to Ras Tanura after the East-West pipeline was attacked. Iraq is also recovering, while Iran remains stalled under the U.S. maritime blockade, with August loadings of only 220,

• crude oil
• MiddleEast

Canada has ended more than a decade of anti-dumping and countervailing duties on Chinese crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules and laminates. On September 17, 2026, the Canadian International Trade Tribunal terminated the second sunset review and revoked the duty orders, so the Canada Border Services Agency will stop collecting the levies. Chinese PV exports to Canada now receive most-favoured-nation treatment, cutting tariffs to 0%. The change is significant. Anti-dumping duties previously

• crystallinesiliconphotovoltaic
• PVModule
• Tariffs
• FineChemicals

A deflagration occurred during maintenance work at BASF's Ludwigshafen site on September 21, leaving two external contractors hospitalized with burn injuries while the cause and affected production unit remain undisclosed.

• BASF Ludwigshafen
• Chemical Safety
• Plant Incident
• Process Safety
• Chemical Industry

Celanese announced immediate price increases on September 21 for acetic acid, VAM, ethyl acetate and acetic anhydride across several global markets, with increases reaching USD 150/MT and EUR 150/MT for selected products.

• Celanese Acetyls
• Vinyl Acetate Monomer
• Acetic Acid
• Chemical Pricing
• Acetyl Chain

Asia’s propylene market tightened in September as a wave of planned maintenance hit supply. PDH, cracker, and FCC units across China, South Korea, and Japan shut down or cut loads, with several outages clustered between September 15 and 18. Hyosung, Zhenhua Petrochemical, and Idemitsu Kosan were among the units taken offline. South Korea’s YNCC crackers had already stopped in late August. Meanwhile, Brent crude briefly topped $103 a barrel on September 21, keeping feedstock costs high. The resul

• Propylene
• CrudeOil
• FineChemicals

Europe is projected to face a jet fuel deficit of around 510,000 barrels per day in the fourth quarter as disrupted Middle Eastern supply forces buyers to source more cargoes from the U.S., Canada, Nigeria and South Korea, while ARA inventories have fallen to a seven-year low.

• Jet Fuel
• European Refining
• ARA Inventories
• Energy Supply
• Global Trade

A large-scale drone attack on Moscow and the surrounding region early on September 20 damaged a facility at the Gazprom Neft-operated Moscow Oil Refinery and triggered a fire, adding another strike to a plant already hit several times this year.

• Moscow Refinery
• Gazprom Neft
• Oil Refining
• Energy Infrastructure
• Fuel Supply

Saudi Aramco has told at least two European refiners they will get no long-term crude in October after drone strikes on the East-West Pipeline forced a precautionary shutdown, cutting loadings at Yanbu. The line normally moves about 3.5 million b/d and lets Saudi Arabia avoid the Strait of Hormuz. Aramco aims to restore partial capacity within days and full capacity in roughly six weeks. European buyers are scrambling: Poland's Orlen bought 16 extra cargoes from Norway, the UK, Algeria, Kazakhst

• FineChemcials

A new ocean-freight GRI covering shipments from Asia, South Asia, the Middle East and Africa to the United States and Canada took effect September 15, with filed increases reaching USD 2,535 for a 45-foot container.

• Ocean Freight
• Chemical Logistics
• Supply Chain
• Freight Rates
• North America

More than 20 Chinese titanium dioxide producers have joined a new price-hike wave led by LB Group, lifting domestic offers by around RMB 700/MT and export prices by USD 100/MT, although actual transaction prices still depend on downstream demand.

• Titanium Dioxide
• Chemical Market
• China Chemicals
• Price Increase
• Coatings Industry

LG Chem has signed a business cooperation MOU with Jiangyin Jianghua Micro-Electronic Materials, a Chinese fine chemical materials company, to collaborate on ultra-high-purity isopropyl alcohol (HP-IPA) for semiconductors.Under the arrangement, LG Chem will supply propylene-based C3-IPA to Jianghua Microelectronics, which will further purify and process it into semiconductor-grade HP-IPA for the Chinese market. The two parties will also conduct technical and information exchanges and joint marke

• LGChem
• JianghuaMicroelectronics

A full power outage forced ExxonMobil’s Joliet refinery offline, temporarily removing about 6% of U.S. Midwest refining capacity as diesel markets remain exceptionally tight.

• ExxonMobil Joliet
• Refinery Shutdown
• Diesel Supply
• Midwest Fuels
• Chemical Logistics

Two ammonia leaks within less than 24 hours killed two workers at an Iraqi fertilizer plant and triggered a precautionary evacuation at Jordan’s Aqaba southern port.

• Ammonia Safety
• Fertilizer Production
• Aqaba Port
• Chemical Accident
• Hazardous Materials

A drone strike on September 10 hit Saudi Arabia's East-West oil pipeline near Riyadh and Medina, injuring workers and damaging facilities. Saudi authorities shut the line as a precaution and began repairs. The 1,200-kilometer pipeline links Red Sea port Yanbu to eastern oilfields, with a design capacity of 7 million barrels per day, about 5 million for export. It is Saudi Arabia's main route bypassing the Strait of Hormuz, which is nearly closed amid the U.S.-Iran conflict. Yanbu inventories cov

• OilPipeline
• FineChemcials

The EU is weighing a rare trade defence tool to shield its chemical and plastics sectors. France, Italy and likely Germany will soon ask the European Commission for safeguard measures—import quotas on PET, epoxy resin and glass fibre. Unlike anti-dumping duties, safeguards target all trading partners, even free-trade partners, and need only proof that surging imports harmed domestic industry. The EU has used safeguards just once, for ferroalloys. Pressure is rising: US tariffs have closed off ma

• EU
• PET
• EpoxyResin
• GlassFibre
• FineChemicals

European gas prices have reached their highest level since early 2023, renewing cost pressure on ammonia, fertilizer and energy-intensive chemical production.

• European Natural Gas
• Dutch TTF
• Chemical Feedstocks
• Fertilizer Market
• Energy Security

Rising energy prices and expectations of tighter petrochemical supply drove a sharp rally in South Korean chemical shares, although the market is pricing in a margin recovery that has yet to be confirmed by earnings.

• Lotte Chemical
• South Korea Petrochemicals
• Asian Olefins
• MEG Spreads
• Petrochemical Margins