Leading giants including Wanhua and Covestro push up prices, kicking off a full-scale upward cycle in the chemical industry.
On May 18th, global leading rigid foam polyester polyol manufacturer Stepan announced that effective July 1, 2026, the prices of STEPANPOL® and TERATE® rigid foam polyester polyols in the Americas will be raised by $0.185 per pound, equivalent to about RMB 2,957 per metric ton.
Notably, this marks its second price hike within half a month. The first round of price increase was officially implemented on May 15, with STEPANPOL® up $0.06 per pound (approx. RMB 959/MT) and TERATE® up $0.08 per pound (approx. RMB 1,278/MT).
Two consecutive hikes in a short period bring the total increase over RMB 4,000 per metric ton, fully boosting market sentiment.
The successive price rises of Stepan represent the general uptrend of the polyurethane industry chain. As core raw materials for polyurethane, MDI has witnessed worldwide price hikes.
Top five global MDI manufacturers namely Wanhua Chemical, Covestro, BASF, Dow and Huntsman have raised prices globally since March, spreading bullish sentiment across the whole sector.
As the world’s top MDI producer, Wanhua took the lead in price adjustment. On March 19, its European subsidiary announced a EUR 500/MT increase for all MDI products, equal to around RMB 3,980/MT. In May, it lifted domestic pure MDI by RMB 800/MT and polymeric MDI by RMB 500/MT, the second official hike this year.
Covestro followed closely, raising all MDI products by $0.10 per pound in North America in March, keeping consistent global price adjustment pace.
The overall price surge across the polyurethane chain is not temporary fluctuation, but a trending rally driven by multiple solid factors. Apart from polyester polyol and MDI, Dow, BASF, Mitsubishi Chemical and other international chemical giants have issued price adjustment notices covering various basic and fine chemical products.
Surging production costs, tightened global chemical supply and steady recovery of downstream demand jointly reverse the sluggish industry trend.
Driven by price hikes from leading enterprises, the chemical industry has stepped out of the prolonged downturn and officially entered a new prosperous upward cycle.
Post time: May-21-2026