South Korea's KPX Chemical Enters Flexible Polyurethane Foam Recycling Business

On July 6, KPX Chemical announced a collaboration with H&S to build a new soft polyurethane foam recycling plant in the Yongsan Industrial Park in Yeongdong-gun, North Chungcheong Province, South Korea, expected to begin commercial operations in June 2027. The core of this project is to establish a circular economy model, transforming what was previously considered waste—soft polyurethane foam scraps—into high-value recycled polyols. The produced recycled polyols can replace up to 30% of the virgin polyols used in soft polyurethane foam production, with even higher replacement rates achievable in certain applications. The quality is also expected to maintain mechanical performance and ride comfort comparable to existing products.

Recently, Satellite Chemical (002648.SZ) disclosed its 2026 semi-annual earnings forecast, stating that the company expects to achieve a net profit attributable to shareholders of RMB 6.0 billion to RMB 7.0 billion in the first half of 2026, representing a year-on-year increase of 118.68% to 155.13%.The reasons for performance growth include advantages in industrial chain integration and a diversified supply chain layout that has buffered cost fluctuations, among others.As a leading integrated light hydrocarbon company, Satellite Chemical focuses on an industrial chain featuring the coordinated development of “C2 + C3.” Driven by rising crude oil prices, profit margins for C2 products (ethylene and downstream derivatives produced from ethane) and C3 products (deep-processing products with propylene as the core feedstock) have generally increased this year. Leveraging its “gas-based” route that uses light hydrocarbons such as U.S. ethane and propane as core feedstocks, the company benefits from both lower raw material costs and recovering product prices, highlighting its advantages over the naphtha-based route.

Recently, as a key foreign investment project in Puyang City, the construction of Henan Wangsu New Material Technology Co., Ltd.'s annual production capacity of 600,000 tons of polystyrene is progressing steadily. The project has successfully completed its initial production run, injecting strong foreign investment momentum into the high-quality development of the city's chemical new materials industry. The project has a total investment of 1.23 billion yuan and includes the construction of six specialized production units for polystyrene, each with a capacity of 100,000 tons, along with a complete set of facilities for granulation, packaging, and public utilities. It is a landmark foreign investment project for the city's efforts to extend and supplement its industrial chain and strengthen the chemical new materials industry cluster.

Wanhua Chemical announced that its net profit for the first half of 2026 is expected to be between 9.8 billion and 10.4 billion yuan, representing a year-on-year increase of 60.05% to 69.85%. In the first half of 2026, due to the impact of international political factors and geopolitical conflicts, global chemical raw material prices rose sharply. Coupled with changes in supply and demand patterns in certain regions, this drove up the market prices of chemical products, enhancing the profitability of the company's chemical products. Additionally, the company completed the raw material diversification transformation of the ethylene Phase I unit in January, improving the cost competitiveness of its petrochemical segment.

The Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry, Commerce, and Services (Ministério do Desenvolvimento, Indústria, Comércio e Serviços/Secretaria de Comércio Exterior) has released Announcement No. 48 of 2026, initiating an anti-dumping investigation on lactic acid and its salts (Portuguese: ácido láctico e seus sais) originating from China, following a request submitted by the Brazilian company Corbion Produtos Renováveis Ltda. on October 29, 2025. The Mercosur tax code for the products involved is 2918.11.00. The period for the dumping investigation is from July 2024 to June 2025, and the injury investigation period is from July 2020 to June 2025. The announcement takes effect from the date of publication.