SABIC Jubail attack wipes out 70% of global PPE supply and sends PCB prices soaring 40% – Global News Digest, 30 Apr 2026

War & Supply Chain Shock

South Korea eyes July extension of crude swap scheme as naphtha crisis shows no signs of easing

Indonesia's LPG duty cut to zero is a lifeline for a petchem industry starved of naphtha

Iran war cuts Sinopec's refinery runs to 83% but opens a door for 26% surge in chemical exports

SABIC Jubail attack wipes out 70% of global PPE supply and sends PCB prices soaring 40%

Indonesia calls time on plastic duties as Middle East crisis drives domestic prices up 100%

China's butadiene rubber price crashes 27% in a month but record exports stop the freefall

Iran war sends Malaysia's recycled plastic demand up 30% but domestic waste quality can't keep up

Mega Deals & Expansions

LANXESS bets Rs 150 crore on Jhagadia to serve India, Middle East and global lubricant markets

Nippon Shokubai to scale China LiFSI plant fivefold to 12,400 tonnes to ride EV and ESS surge

EVelution and Mitsui ink $850 million cobalt deal to build America's first commercial refinery

GC and SCGC sign MoU to merge olefins businesses and crown Thailand as ASEAN's petchem hub

GPS Renewables and Lummus break ground on India's first ethanol-to-jet aviation fuel plant

Wanhua's RMB 30 billion blitz on battery materials and specialty chemicals rewrites industry rules

Market Intelligence

US plastic resin output jumps 4.8% in March as sales surge 9.5% year on year

Market & Financial Results

Vinyl Chemicals FY26 net profit falls 26% to Rs 1,650 lakh despite 5% revenue growth

Policy & Regulation

EU Parliament backs chemicals omnibus but insists labels must stay readable for consumers

Plastic taxes are no longer niche policy — they are now rewriting global packaging economics

Chinese-owned Syngenta is becoming a geopolitical pawn as US-China trade tensions escalate

Industrial Incidents

Pune chemical factory gas leak sends 24 to hospital including six children in midnight scare

Tyres & Motorsport

Pirelli rolls out three softest compounds for Miami F1 return after Bahrain and Saudi cancellations

Innovation & Green Tech

Three-year bridge trial shows water-borne polyurethane coatings match solvent-borne field performance

EuPIA 2026: packaging inks hold steady but regulation complexity and market shifts dominate debate