Global MDI Price Surge August 2026 | Huntsman €250 Hike & Wanhua Hungary Plant Shutdown Analysis

Huntsman Releases New MDI Price Hike Notice for Europe, Africa and Middle East

Huntsman has officially announced a €250 per tonne price increase covering all MDI products sold in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, with the new rate taking effect from August 1, 2026. This adjustment marks the third round of price hikes rolled out by Huntsman across the region within one year.
The price adjustment was triggered by multiple overlapping negative factors, including persistent geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, continuous upward movement of upstream raw material prices, and soaring energy costs. More crucially, the entire Europe-Africa-Middle East MDI market is facing unprecedented systemic supply disruptions that cannot be eased in the short run.

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Severe Regional Supply Crisis Hits Europe, Middle East & Africa

The whole Europe-Africa-Middle East industrial chain is trapped in tight supply conditions caused by plant shutdowns and logistics blockades.

1. Middle East Supply Collapse
Saudi Arabia’s Sadara 400,000-tonne annual MDI plant has been fully offline since early 2026, eliminating over 90% of local regional MDI supply overnight. Meanwhile, blockades in the Strait of Hormuz have cut off core energy and chemical shipping routes, interrupting raw material deliveries to downstream MDI producers. The Middle East only focuses on crude oil refining, lacking complete MDI manufacturing capacity, so local demand for construction insulation, cold chain PU materials and home renovation fully relies on imported MDI.

2. European Capacity Reduction & Hungary Maintenance Cut Supply
Europe’s MDI industry is undergoing capacity phase-outs, with BASF, Covestro and Huntsman planning to retire old production lines year by year, shrinking effective market supply. On top of that, Wanhua’s 400,000-tonne MDI plant in Hungary is under full maintenance, sharply cutting short-term spot circulation and amplifying market worries about insufficient inventory. Even with steady demand from automotive parts, high-end building insulation, PU adhesives, wind power and cold-chain foam, Europe has no spare capacity to fill the supply gap.

3. Africa Fully Dependent on Imported MDI
Africa’s MDI consumption centers on infrastructure thermal insulation, cold-chain logistics equipment and synthetic leather for shoes. Infrastructure investment growth drives stable rigid PU foam demand, yet there are no large-scale MDI production facilities across the continent. All MDI products are transshipped from Europe and the Middle East, creating an extremely fragile supply chain with no negotiation leverage against global price increases.

China’s MDI Market: Global Supply Buffer with Domestic Price Uptick

Against the backdrop of global supply shortages, China acts as the core supply buffer for worldwide MDI demand. In H1 2026, China’s polymeric MDI export volume jumped 22.77% year-on-year, while shipments bound for Europe, the Middle East and Africa rose more than 30% separately.
According to data from Maihua Plastics Research Institute, mainstream polymeric MDI spot prices in East China have reached RMB 17,400–17,600 per tonne, climbing over RMB 1,500 per tonne since the start of July. Multiple centralized plant maintenance rounds have tightened domestic spot supply simultaneously:

• Wanhua Yantai’s 1.1 million-tonne MDI facility will enter maintenance in early August;

• Tosoh Ruian’s 80,000-tonne plant will shut down for around one month at late July;

• A Southwest China MDI producer suspended drummed product shipments temporarily due to equipment failures.

Domestic traders maintain ultra-low inventory levels and hold a firm stance on quotations to avoid losses. Even though downstream home appliance and insulation industries are shifting between peak and off-peak cycles, low stockpiles paired with global factory shutdowns will keep domestic MDI prices supported with limited downside risk. Market insiders predict China’s MDI prices will follow overseas markets to edge up moderately in the near term.

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Divergent Global Market Pattern & Short-Term Price Forecast

The global MDI market has split into differentiated regional supply-demand cycles with clear price gaps. Europe faces long-lasting tight supply due to capacity elimination and high energy costs; China owns a complete industrial chain and stable energy expenditure to serve as a global supply buffer; Europe, Africa and the Middle East remain restrained by geopolitical risks and rising production costs.
Comprehensive market analysis indicates overseas MDI prices will stay biased to increase rather than decline, and a synchronized upward price cycle between China and international markets will continue in the coming months. Market participants need to track three key indicators closely: the progress of overseas plant maintenance restarts, changes in Middle East shipping logistics, and monthly China MDI export volume data.