Paint & Coating News

In 2025, WACKER Chemie faced a sudden and severe downturn. The once-flagship German chemical company saw sales decline and profits collapse, triggering a chain reaction of layoffs and asset restructuring.

• Wacker Chemie

2.4 billion yuan—this could be Sinochem International’s largest annual loss in 2025.

• Sinochem International

Global high-performance materials giant Invista announced it would shut its precision processing facilities in Martinsville, Virginia, USA, and Gloucester, UK, transferring the relevant operations to its Kingston, Canada plant.

• Invista

BASF quietly released its preliminary 2025 financial results: free cash flow surged to €1.3 billion—far exceeding market expectations—while core profitability metric EBITDA came in at just €6.6 billion, slightly below the lower end of its guidance range.

Wanhua Chemical has quietly unfurled an astonishing blueprint across the Shandong Peninsula—650,000 tonnes in Laizhou + 200,000 tonnes in Haiyang = 850,000 tonnes of annual lithium iron phosphate (LFP) capacity.

On January 22, 2026, German chemical giant Covestro held the commissioning ceremony for its brand-new thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) production facility in Zhuhai, Guangdong, China.

• TPU
• Covestro

Following the public disclosure of its Shandong Laiyang project, Wanhua Chemical has made another decisive move in the lithium battery cathode materials arena.

• wanhua chemical
• LFP

On January 16, 2026, Germany’s Henkel officially announced it had signed an agreement to acquire Swiss-based ATP Adhesive Systems, currently owned by private equity firm Arsenal Capital Partners.

On January 21, 2026, a seemingly routine announcement slipped into the news cycle: Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL), India’s state-owned energy giant, signed a 10-year liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply agreement with Abu Dhabi Liquefied Nat

On January 17, 2026, at a signing ceremony held in Asunción, the capital of Paraguay, the European Union and Mercosur formally signed a Free Trade Agreement (FTA).

• FTA
• European union
• Mercosur

German chemical and consumer goods group Henkel is advancing a major strategic expansion by signing an agreement with U.S.-based investment firm Arsenal Capital Partners to acquire ATP Adhesive Systems.

• Henkel
• ATP Adhesive Systems

On January 13, Swiss construction chemicals giant Sika released its 2025 financial performance report. Measured in local currencies, the company achieved 0.6% growth in 2025.

What Chemours has done in Kuan Yin, Taiwan, looks at first glance like a very routine financial headline: the company signed definitive agreements to sell the remaining land at its former titanium dioxide manufacturing location to a buyer group including

Holding the first plenary meeting of the Critical Chemicals Alliance at the Chemelot industrial park in the Netherlands was, in itself, a statement.

A new production facility with an investment of USD 20 million has significantly increased global transparent polyamide capacity, reflecting a strategic move by the French chemical group to deepen its presence in Asia.

• Arkema

China’s specialty engineering plastics industry is undergoing a transition from volume-driven expansion toward a development model that combines quality improvement with structural upgrading.

• specialty engineering plastics
• China

Recently, India-based Tagros Chemicals Limited signed a definitive agreement with Bayer to acquire Bayer’s global flubendiamide (FLB)–related business assets.

• Tagros
• Bayer
• flubendiamide

Finnish mining and aggregates solutions provider Metso is investing in the construction of a brand-new rubber products factory in Quzhou, Zhejiang Province, China, to meet growing market demand and further strengthen its local service capabilities.

• Metso

Dow’s Silicones business sent a price adjustment notice to its partners across Greater China, announcing a planned 5%–10% price increase—effective January 26, 2026—for products tied to its high-performance building segment.

President and CEO Michael Hansen will step down to become President and CEO of DFDS, a European ferry and logistics giant. Until a new CEO is appointed, he will continue working with the management team to advance the group’s strategic agenda and will for