Stalled US-Iran peace talks and tight supply push Japanese rubber futures up 1.6% – Global News Digest, 29 Apr 2026

War & Supply Chain Shock

Indonesia goes to zero duty on plastics and LPG as Middle East crisis drives prices up 100%

Stalled US-Iran peace talks and tight supply push Japanese rubber futures up 1.6%

UAE quits OPEC and KSS says Thai petrochemical stocks are the trade to own right now

Mega Deals & Expansions

Worley wins Dow's Path2Zero FEED contract for world's first net-zero ethylene cracker

BASF opens three world-scale aroma plants on two continents to lock in fragrance supply

China's largest ink maker opens Haiphong coatings plant to capture ASEAN's industrial boom

Vulcan Energy breaks ground on Frankfurt lithium plant targeting 500,000 EV batteries a year

Nippon Shokubai to expand China LiFSI capacity fivefold to 12,400 tonnes by 2027

BioKEMIX lands in India with ?220 crore war chest to rewire global chemical supply chains

Battery & Clean Tech Race

Epsilon's Gen III LFP cathode beats Chinese rivals on energy density and opens US supply chains

Innovation & Green Tech

Biotalys wins Florida approval for EVOCA making it the first AGROBODY biocontrol cleared in the US

Researchers crack lignin consistency problem opening path to bisphenol-free metal coatings

Market & Financial Results

PPG's Q1 sales jump 7% to $3.93 billion as aerospace and Latin America lead the charge

Ecolab's Q1 adjusted EPS jumps 13% to $1.70 as life sciences and high-tech surge

People & Corporate Moves

PPG names Avient's Jamie Beggs as CFO replacing Vince Morales after his 41-year run

BASF veteran Carsten Jensen takes the Scandinavia MD role at Bodo Möller Chemie

Policy & Regulation

Gujarat ATS busts two Surat chemical firms exporting fentanyl precursors to Mexican cartels

Tyrecycle CEO tells parliament: collection schemes are useless without mandatory end markets

Tyres & Rubber

Pirelli brings supersoft SCX to Balaton Park WorldSBK after last year's conservative debut

Short circuit sparks massive blaze at Bhiwadi rubber plant destroying half the facility

Specialty Materials & Print

Toyo Printing Inks brings BPA-NI coatings and UV metal inks to METPACK in Essen this May

Circular Economy & Recycling

DIY compression moulding turns PLA and HDPE print waste into usable game tokens at home