Global Chemical Industry Faces Critical Inventory Shortage

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According to Sina Finance, Covestro—a global leader in the chemical industry—recently announced that its MDI products across all end markets in North America are subject to force majeure. Simultaneously, Dow Chemical’s MDI plant in North America is experiencing supply disruptions; the root cause for both lies in interruptions to the carbon monoxide and chlorine supply chains. The North American MDI market is dominated by Covestro, Dow, Huntsman, BASF, and Wanhua Chemical, which collectively control 95% of the region's production capacity. With two of these giants halting production simultaneously, the resulting short-term supply gap will be extremely difficult to bridge.

Since late February 2026, global supply chains to energy and chemical items have experienced widespread fractures. Sulfur inventories have fallen below the critical three-week limit; lithium hexafluorophosphate stocks are down to just a one-week supply; and the two leading MDI producers in North America declared force majeure on the very same day. The global chemical market is rapidly shifting from a phase of "price negotiation" to a crisis of acute scarcity, where securing any supply at all has have become a formidable challenge.

Oil: Epic Supply Shortfall; Inventories Depleting Rapidly

According to data from the IEA, global oil supply fell to 95.1 million barrels per day in April—a staggering reduction of 12.8 million barrels per day compared to pre-conflict levels. Of this decline, over 14 million barrels per day of production capacity in the Gulf oil-producing nations has been taken offline. The IEA has subsequently downgraded its forecast to global crude oil supply in 2026 by 3.9 million barrels per day, leaving the global market facing a supply deficit of 1.78 million barrels per day. Global commercial crude oil inventories collectively shrank by 246 million barrels between March and April—a new historical record. Currently, at least eight major refineries in the Gulf region have either partially or completely halted operations; additionally, the Ras Laffan LNG plant in Qatar has ceased production, with repairs expected to take several years to complete.

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