Toray Industries To Introduce Surcharge Mechanism For Certain Products Including Resins And Carbon Fiber In Japan

Caixin Global, March 28 — Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul stated on March 28 that, to address crises such as rising domestic fuel prices triggered by the Middle East situation, Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has recently engaged in active communication with relevant countries. According to the agreement recently reached with Iran, Thai oil tankers can safely transit the Strait of Hormuz. Speaking at a press briefing held at the Government House, Anutin outlined the government’s measures to cope with fuel price volatility. He said the government will focus its efforts on four key areas going forward: diplomatic coordination, energy security, commodity price control, and livelihood protection, and called upon the public to jointly implement energy-saving measures. Thai Foreign Minister Sireethorn Lee-utai stated that Thailand has proposed convening a special ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting to discuss solutions for alleviating the tensions. Thailand currently maintains stable petroleum reserves, and the government is actively pursuing additional energy sources through diplomatic channels.

On March 27, the front-month futures contract of styrene surged 6% intraday to 10,631.00 yuan.

Caifeng News, March 27: Toray Industries of Japan will introduce a surcharge mechanism for certain products, including resins and carbon fibers, to promptly reflect fluctuations in raw material costs.

According to Walt Hart, Global Head of Olefins at S&P Global Energy CERA, the Strait of Hormuz has effectively been blockaded, impacting Asian petrochemical producers. Coupled with the shutdown of steam cracker units in the Middle East and reduced operating rates at Asian plants due to feedstock shortages, global ethylene production in 2026 is expected to decline by approximately 22 million tons—equivalent to 12% of global total production in 2025.

On March 26, the full-scale commissioning ceremony of the BASF (Guangdong) Integrated Site was held on Donghai Island in Zhanjiang City. The site is China's first large-scale foreign-funded integrated petrochemical project, and the largest single project invested by a German company in China. With a total investment of about 8.7 billion euros, it is independently operated and managed by BASF, and has become its seventh integrated site globally, and the third largest integrated production base after the sites in Ludwigshafen, Germany, and Antwerp, Belgium.