the price trends of global chemical

In 2026, global chemical prices will generally show a significant upward trend, driven by geopolitical conflicts, rising energy costs, and global supply chain disruptions. Since the beginning of the year, due to the escalation of the situation in the Middle East, international crude oil prices have surged, with Brent crude oil approaching $120 per barrel, directly pushing up the production costs of chemical products using oil and natural gas as raw materials, triggering a global wave of price increases.
Overview of Major Chemical Price Trends:
MDI (diphenylmethane diisocyanate): Global production capacity is highly concentrated. Since February 2026, giants such as Huntsman, Covestro, BASF, and Wanhua Chemical have successively raised prices, with increases ranging from $200 to $500 per ton.
TDI (toluene diisocyanate): Wanhua Chemical's March quotation has been raised to 15700 yuan/ton, an increase of 1200 yuan/ton compared to the previous month.
Hexanediamine: Due to the tight supply of raw materials such as butadiene and adiponitrile, NVIDIA has raised its prices multiple times, and the market price of domestically produced hexamethylenediamine has reached 22000-24000 yuan/ton.
Acrylic acid: With a surge of 106% -123.6% in March, it is one of the most rapidly rising varieties in this round.
Butadiene, dichloromethane, isopropanol MIBK、 The prices of over a hundred chemical products, including pure benzene, phenol, acetone, etc., have all increased by more than 50%, forming a situation of synchronous surge in multiple categories.
Basic raw materials such as PX, ethylene glycol, PTA, PET, etc. have also entered a comprehensive price increase cycle, putting overall pressure on the olefin and aromatic hydrocarbon industry chains.
Analysis of the core reasons for the price increase:
Geopolitical impact on supply chain: The Middle East conflict has caused disruptions to shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, affecting approximately 20% of global crude oil and chemical raw material transportation.
Rigid upward trend in energy costs: The rising prices of crude oil, coal, and natural gas directly transmit to downstream cost structures.
Overseas production capacity contraction: Europe, Japan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia are accelerating their withdrawal due to high energy costs, and the global supply gap is widening.
Domestic policies and maintenance factors: environmental inspections, dual control of energy consumption, and annual maintenance of enterprises have led to local supply shortages.
Future trend outlook:
In the short term, there is still upward pressure on prices, especially against the backdrop of high crude oil prices, with strong support from chemical product costs. In the medium to long term, it depends on the pace of capacity deployment and the recovery of downstream demand. Some areas, such as PA66, have already issued overcapacity warnings and need to be alert to structural risks.