South Korea locks in 90% of pre-war naphtha supply for May with $457 million state support – Global News Digest, 28 Apr 2026

War & Supply Chain Shock

Middle East war forces SCG's Vietnam petchem plant into its second shutdown in a year

South Korea locks in 90% of pre-war naphtha supply for May with $457 million state support

Korea Petrochemical raises cracker run rate to 72% as government subsidises naphtha imports

Stalled US-Iran peace talks and Hormuz squeeze push Japanese rubber futures higher

Indonesia slashes plastic and LPG import duties to zero as domestic prices surge up to 100%

Ukraine drones hit Volgograd chemical plant and Yaroslavl refinery in deepest industrial strikes yet

Policy & Power Moves

INEOS warns Project ONE may be Europe's last petchem plant if EU funding keeps snubbing industry

Deals & Expansions

BioKEMIX bets Rs.220 crore on India as its global chemical supply chain nerve centre

Air Products targets Florida space launch market with new Cocoa gas plant due in 2028

Shrieve buys Aberdeen's FIS Chemicals to deepen oil, gas and marine chemicals reach

Japan's antitrust regulator clears Mitsui-Idemitsu-Sumitomo polyolefin merger to proceed

Innovation & Green Tech

AdiMem becomes India's first fully indigenous membrane maker targeting a $350 billion global market

Clariant's new CATOFIN 1000 cuts fouling by 20% and extends catalyst life in PDH plants

Johnson Matthey and Liquid Sunshine team up on China's first 75,000 tonne biomethanol plant

Liquid Sunshine picks Johnson Matthey tech to power Guangxi's landmark green fuel plant

Corbion patents liquid algal DHA suspension that cuts fish oil out of aquaculture nutrition

Lummus and ART-Envi's zero-emission ECHO system seals off the last open coke pit in refining

Michelin and four French universities launch PolMixLab to build recyclable next-gen rubber

Circular Economy & Recycling

Toyochem takes its alkali-soluble Labelmelt adhesive global to clean up PET bottle recycling

Tesco, Primark and Adidas fund phase two push to crack microfibre pollution in textile wastewater

Quantum's $4 million sink-float line turns flame-retardant e-waste plastic into clean recyclate

Siemens joins AZuR tyre alliance to bring digital twins and lifecycle data to tyre recycling

Georgia's Tegeta Green Planet pitches EU-standard tyre recycling factory at Brussels summit

Market & Financial Results

Vinyl Chemicals India's Q4 profit falls 36% year-on-year as margins come under pressure