Paint & Coating News

Global high-performance elastomers leader ARLANXEO has officially inaugurated its new Therban HNBR (Hydrogenated Nitrile Butadiene Rubber) plant in Changzhou, China.

• Arlanxeo
• HNBR

On February 4, 2026, German chemical and consumer goods giant Henkel announced the acquisition of the Dutch specialty coatings company Stahl for €2.1 billion, immediately drawing intense attention across the industry.

• Stahl
• Henkel

In 2025, global epoxy resin imports reached 395,000 tons, with an import value of approximately $829 million, a decrease of about 20% compared to $1.038 billion in the same period last year.

• Epoxy Resin
• 2025

British pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca recently announced that it will invest $15 billion in China over the next ten years to expand its R&D and manufacturing footprint in the country.

• AstraZeneca

Asahi Kasei, Mitsui Chemicals, and Mitsubishi Chemical have reached a principle agreement to establish a new joint venture aimed at consolidating ethylene production in western Japan, marking a major restructuring of the region’s petrochemical infrastruct

• Asahi Kasei
• Mitsui chemicals
• Mitsubishi chemical

On January 29, 2026, global chemical giant Dow Inc. dropped a bombshell: the launch of a sweeping restructuring program dubbed “Transform to Outperform.” On the surface, it appears to be a routine strategic optimization; in reality, it’s a forced “surgica

Between 2022 and 2025, chemical plant shutdowns in Europe surged sixfold, with a cumulative loss of 37 million metric tons of capacity—equivalent to the entire chemical output of the Netherlands or Belgium vanishing into thin air.

According to monitoring data from the Lianyungang Municipal Government website, in the first month of 2026, 11 out of 16 tracked chemical products rose in price, 4 declined, and 1 remained flat—meaning an impressive 68.8% of products posted gains.

When global coatings giant PPG quietly absorbed Dutch firm EMM, the industry didn’t erupt in shockwaves—after all, against the backdrop of billion-dollar deals by Sherwin-Williams, AkzoNobel, and Nippon Paint, this transaction seemed modest.

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