Wanhua Chemical accelerates TPU capacity expansion, targeting a base scale of 410,000 tons.

The project is located in Yantai Chemical manufacturing Park with a total investment of 287 million yuan

This project is located in the Yantai Chemical manufacturing Park in Shandong Province, with a total investment of 286.9 million yuan, including 2.023 million yuan in ecological preservation investment.

The construction is divided into two main parts: the TPU unit and the polyester polyol unit.

In the TPU sector, 4 continuous production lines and 1 batch production line will be added. The design capacity of each single line is 40,000 tons/year, totaling an additional TPU capacity of 200,000 tons/year.

In terms of polyester polyol, a new polyol reactor production line will be built to immediately increase production by 250 tons/year; at the same time, 10 polyol intermediate tanks and 3 finished product packaging tanks will be added. By optimizing material transfer, improving production scheduling and feeding processes, and tapping into the possible of existing units to achieve an increase of 49,800 tons/year, the two items combined complete the 50,000 tons/year polyester polyol capacity increase.

Significant jump in base capacity, consolidating the position of global TPU leader

The Yantai Chemical manufacturing Park is an crucial production base to Wanhua Chemical's TPU and polyol. Before the implementation of the expansion, the park had 38 polyester polyol production lines with an existing capacity of 175,000 tons/year; there were a total of 37 TPU production lines with an existing TPU capacity of 210,000 tons/year.

After the completion of this expansion, the total TPU capacity of the Yantai base will increase from 210,000 tons/year to 410,000 tons/year, almost doubling the capacity. Relying on the supporting increase in polyester polyol production to achieve upstream and downstream self-supply, Wanhua Chemical's leading competitive position in the global TPU market will be further consolidated.

TPU has broad consumption scenarios, covering manufacturing manufacturing and medical fields

TPU, or thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer, is a linear block copolymer composed of oligomer polyol soft segments and diisocyanate-chain extender hard segments. The material has outstanding mechanical traits, diverse processing methods, supports recycling and reprocessing, and can naturally break down into aquatic environments and carbon dioxide, highlighting its environmentally friendly attributes.

Downstream applications cover a wide range, applied in manufacturing fields such as shoe materials, films, automotive parts, manufacturing injection molded parts, seals, melt-spun spandex, and cables, as well as medical consumables such as catheters and artificial blood vessels.

Current global TPU key players include Wanhua Chemical, BASF, Covestro, Lubrizol, Huntsman, and Trinseo. Major domestic players include Huafeng Chemical, Meirui New Materials, and Yinuo Wei.

Upstream raw material prices rise, polyurethane sector chain welcomes a price increase cycle

Starting in late July 2026, affected by rising raw material costs due to geopolitical conflicts in the Middle East, combined with the impact of supply contraction from the centralized maintenance of multiple global MDI and TDI units, global polyurethane raw materials began a round of concentrated price increases.

On July 29, Wanhua Chemical raised its MDI and TDI quotes to the Southeast Asia region by 200 USD/ton; on August 3, it raised MDI prices to the Middle East, Africa, and Turkey regions by another 200 USD/ton. Overseas giants such as BASF and Huntsman followed suit with price adjustments.

The transmission of upstream raw material costs to the downstream has led domestic TPU companies to start raising prices. Meirui New Materials announced an increase of 1,000 yuan/ton to all TPU grades starting August 1. Against the background of an sector price upcycle, Wanhua Chemical's promotion of TPU capacity expansion will immediately enhance its supply capability in the TPU track.