Another shutdown! Massive withdrawal announced on the same day! Why are Asahi Kasei and Mitsubishi Chemical collectively cutting back?

Recently, two Japanese chemical giants—Asahi Kasei and Mitsubishi Chemical—announced large-scale exit plans on the same day, sending shockwaves across the global chemical industry. Asahi Kasei announced the shutdown of multiple production lines—including styrene monomer (SM), polyethylene (PE), and acrylonitrile (AN)—at its Mizushima Plant, involving dozens of thousands of tons of annual capacity. Mitsubishi Chemical, meanwhile, announced its complete withdrawal from PBS biodegradable plastic operations in Thailand and continues to divest traditional businesses such as carbon materials and coke. This is not an isolated case, but rather a microcosm of a sweeping retreat across Japan’s chemical industry. Over the past year, major Japanese chemical companies—including Mitsui Chemicals, Sumitomo Chemical, and Kuraray—have successively announced shutdowns and exit plans covering core products such as ethylene, TDI, MMA, PMMA, and PC. An unprecedented wave of capacity rationalization is now underway across Japan’s chemical sector. Table 1: Overview of Shutdowns and Exits by Major Japanese Chemical Enterprises Why are Asahi Kasei and Mitsubishi Chemical cutting back? On May 12, Asahi Kasei officially announced a large-scale business restructuring at its Mizushima Plant to be completed before fiscal year 2030, with multiple core petrochemical and fine chemical production lines to be phased out in an orderly manner. • Shutting down styrene monomer (SM) production capacity. As a key raw material for resins, styrene was once one of Asahi Kasei’s flagship products—but it has now become one of the first targets for streamlining. • Shutting down polyethylene (PE) production capacity. This includes high-density polyethylene (HDPE) products (Suntec™-HD, Creolex™) and low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and EVA-related products (Suntec™-LD, Suntec™-EVA), primarily used in packaging and consumer goods. • Shutting down a 200,000-ton-per-year acrylonitrile (AN) production line. Acrylonitrile is a critical raw material for ABS resin and acrylic fibers. Asahi Kasei will convert its existing 5,000-ton-per-year methylacrylonitrile (MAN) line into a co-production line for AN/MAN; future commercial supply will rely on Korea’s Tongsuh Petrochemical. • Shutting down a ~3,000-ton-per-year polycarbonate diol (PCD) production line. Used mainly as a raw material for polyurethane synthetic leather, future market supply will be secured by Asahi Kasei Fine Chemicals (Nantong) Co., Ltd. Yukitaro Kudo, President of Asahi Kasei, stated bluntly at a press conference: “Japan’s ethylene cracker units have operated below the break-even utilization rate of 90% for 44 consecutive months—and current utilization stands at only around 70%. We have set a four-year transition period to allow downstream customers sufficient time to establish alternative supply chains, with formal cessation scheduled for 2030.” Meanwhile, Mitsubishi Chemical chose to fully withdraw from its PBS biodegradable plastic business in Thailand, continuing its systematic divestment of traditional petrochemical assets. Source: AI Mitsubishi Chemical announced its exit from the polybutylene succinate (PBS) business of its joint venture PTT MCC Biochem—a company established with Thailand’s PTT Global Chemical. Its commercially produced BioPBS™ is a fully biodegradable plastic that breaks down into water and carbon dioxide under natural microbial action, widely applied in paper cup coatings and coffee capsule packaging. Commercial production began in 2017. However, due to weaker-than-expected market demand and persistently low profitability, Mitsubishi Chemical ultimately decided to fully exit this segment.

Toray, BASF, and Dow are collectively retreating! Has the era of ‘bigger and more comprehensive’ in the chemical industry truly come to an end?

Toray’s move is not an isolated one. Looking across 2025–2026, the global chemical industry is undergoing an unprecedented structural transformation—layoffs, plant closures, asset sales, and withdrawals from traditional businesses have virtually become the ‘common language’ among international giants. According to incomplete statistics, since the start of 2026 alone, announced layoff plans by global chemical and related industry leaders have cumulatively involved nearly 10,000 employees. 1. BASF: €7.7 billion divestiture of coatings business BASF’s restructuring effort is arguably the most aggressive. In October 2025, BASF signed a binding agreement with The Carlyle Group to divest its global coatings business for an enterprise value of €7.7 billion (retaining a 40% equity stake), expected to generate approximately €5.8 billion in pre-tax cash proceeds. In the same month, its Brazilian decorative coatings business was sold to Sherwin-Williams for USD 1.15 billion. In January 2026, BASF initiated the divestiture of non-core assets including trinamiX GmbH. BASF explicitly outlined its new strategic framework—the ‘Winning Formula’—centered on core industrial chemical businesses and systematically shedding non-strategic assets. Source: BASF 2. Dow Chemical: 4,500 layoffs and closure of three plants On January 29, 2026, Dow Chemical announced a comprehensive ‘Transformation & Efficiency’ restructuring program, including global layoffs of approximately 4,500 employees—13% of its total workforce—and a USD 2 billion efficiency initiative expected to incur one-time costs of USD 1.1–1.5 billion. Previously, Dow formally announced the permanent closure of its ethylene cracker in Böhlen, Germany; its chlor-alkali and vinyl assets in Schkopau; and its base silicones plant in Barry, UK—while also postponing progress on its Canadian Path2Zero project. Dow’s contraction focuses predominantly on high-cost production bases in Europe, guided by the core logic of ‘exiting inefficient capacity and concentrating on advantaged regions.’ 3. Asahi Kasei & Mitsubishi Chemical: Large-scale exits announced on the same day On May 12, 2026, Japan’s two leading chemical enterprises—Asahi Kasei and Mitsubishi Chemical—simultaneously announced business shutdowns and exit plans covering a broad range of bulk and fine chemical products, including styrene monomer, polyethylene, acrylonitrile, polycarbonate diol, and PBS biodegradable plastics. Mitsubishi Chemical’s retrenchment is even more aggressive: In March, it transferred all shares in Kaohsiung Plastics Chemical Industry Co., Ltd. in Taiwan; in February, it announced its exit from carbon-material businesses—including coke, needle coke, and pitch coke—as well as coal-related operations, affecting approximately 600 employees. In fiscal year 2025, Mitsubishi Chemical reported sales of approximately ¥3.7 trillion, down 6% year-on-year—performance pressure being a key driver accelerating its restructuring. 4. Evonik: Significant compression of management hierarchy On May 9, 2026, Evonik announced that, through its three-year ‘Evonik Customized’ efficiency enhancement program combined with unit-level optimization measures, it would eliminate 1,000 positions globally. Adding the 850 full-time positions already cut in 2025, the cumulative number of layoffs by end-2026 will reach 2,000—including 1,500 in Germany. More notably, Evonik will compress its management hierarchy from ten levels down to a maximum of six—a deep organizational restructuring, not merely headcount reduction. Source: Coating Industry

Mitsubishi Chemical reverses exit from coke business as AI demand grows

just now

Mitsubishi Chemical Group reversed its exit from the coke and carbon materials business amid rising AI demand. Production continues at its Kagawa Plant to secure supply stability for pitch-based carbon fiber in AI servers and 5G infrastructure.

chemweek

2026-11-05

Mitsubishi Chemical reverses exit from coke business as AI demand grows

Mitsubishi Chemical reverses exit from coke business as AI demand grows

FAQ