Natural gas prices in Europe and spot LNG prices in Northeast Asia have climbed to their highest levels in nearly four years, well exceeding the previous war-driven peaks in mid-March and mid-July, as renewed hostilities between the US and Iran revived concerns over prolonged disruptions to energy flows through the Strait of Hormuz. The rally has brought gas markets back to levels last seen during the 2022-23 global energy crisis, while low European inventories and strong competition for LNG cargoes are adding to supply concerns...
Global supply chains remain exposed to a patchwork of geopolitical, weather-related and infrastructure disruptions in August, with conditions deteriorating at some of the world’s key trade arteries from the Middle East and Asia to Europe and Americas even as tentative signs of normalization emerge elsewhere. The result is not a single global shipping crisis, but an accumulation of regional bottlenecks that continues to undermine schedule reliability and complicate trade flows...
The Middle East war sharply altered the global petrochemical landscape in the second quarter of 2026, but the financial impact was far from uniform. First-half results from major producers reveal a widening divide between companies directly exposed to production, feedstock and logistics disruptions and those able to capitalize on the resulting supply squeeze, higher prices and shifting feedstock economics...
Chinese-origin PE and Middle Eastern cargoes re-exported from China have continued to be offered in Vietnam, even as buying interest has remained subdued. Although offer levels have edged down slightly from the previous week amid softer upstream values, they remain elevated and widely divergent across suppliers, reflecting sellers' attempts to capitalize on firmer regional sentiment while testing buyers' willingness to negotiate...
Do you want to be the first to know about developments affecting the plastics industry and polymer prices? All you have to do is click "Allow" on your browser and start receiving push notifications immediately!