South Korea’s sole domestic TDI plant shuts down! Asia-Pacific supply gap continues to widen—who is exiting, and who is entering?

OCI’s exit occurred just as TDI prices rebounded. According to data from BuyChemPlast Research Institute, China’s TDI price rose from an average of RMB 13,107 per ton in 2025 to RMB 16,183 per ton in the first half of 2026—a 22.19% increase. OCI’s Q2 financial performance consequently improved, with both TDI sales volume and pricing rising. Despite this short-term price recovery, medium- to long-term oversupply pressure—driven by large-scale capacity expansions—remains difficult to alleviate, casting doubt on the sustainable profitability of OCI’s TDI business. OCI’s withdrawal is not an isolated case: in recent years, numerous overseas producers have successively shut down or scaled back their TDI capacity. Japan’s Tosoh was among the earliest to exit; after shutting down its 25,000-ton-per-year TDI facility, Japan was left with only one producer—Mitsui Chemicals—causing Japan to shift from a net TDI exporter to a country highly dependent on imports. In July 2025, Mitsui Chemicals’ Omura Plant suffered a chlorine gas leak, forcing an emergency shutdown; the company permanently reduced its original 128,000-ton-per-year capacity to just 50,000 tons per year. In October 2024, Argentina’s Petroquímica Río Tercero shut down its 28,000-ton-per-year TDI plant—the only TDI production facility in Latin America. In early 2023, BASF permanently closed its 300,000-ton-per-year TDI plant in Ludwigshafen, Germany; meanwhile, Covestro’s 300,000-ton-per-year TDI facility in Dormagen, Germany, suffered power supply and control system failures due to a fire in 2025, triggering force majeure events—highlighting infrastructure aging risks at Europe’s older chemical industrial bases. Overseas shutdown capacities are generally older, smaller in scale, and burdened with high energy and environmental compliance costs—placing them at a persistent competitive disadvantage against integrated, large-scale Chinese manufacturers. As a result, overseas TDI capacity is undergoing sustained contraction. While overseas capacity continues to be phased out, China has become virtually the sole source of new global TDI capacity. According to BuyChemPlast Research Institute, China’s TDI capacity stands at 2.06 million tons—accounting for nearly 60% of global capacity—and the industry is highly concentrated. Wanhua Chemical, the global TDI leader, operates a total global capacity of 1.47 million tons per year across bases in Yantai, Fujian, Xinjiang, and its overseas facility in Hungary; Covestro’s Shanghai base produces 370,000 tons/year; BASF’s Shanghai facility produces 160,000 tons/year; Cangzhou Dahua produces 160,000 tons/year; and Gansu Yin Guang produces 150,000 tons/year.

China’s Toluene Diisocyanate (TDI) Industry Status Report and Future Trend Forecast, 2026–2032

Table of Contents Table 1: Global Toluene Diisocyanate (TDI) Market Size, by Product Type, 2022 vs. 2026 vs. 2032 (in ten-thousand RMB) Table 2: Global Toluene Diisocyanate (TDI) Market Size, by Application, 2022 vs. 2026 vs. 2032 (CAGR, in ten-thousand RMB) Table 3: Key Characteristics of the Toluene Diisocyanate (TDI) Industry Table 4: Favorable Factors Driving TDI Industry Development Table 5: Unfavorable Factors Constraining TDI Industry Development Table 6: Entry Barriers into the Toluene Diisocyanate (TDI) Industry Table 7: International Market Share of Major TDI Producers (by Volume), 2022–2026 Table 8: International Ranking of Major TDI Producers (by Volume), 2026 Table 9: Global Sales Volume of Major TDI Producers (2022–2026) (in thousand tons) Table 10: International Market Share of Major TDI Producers (by Revenue), 2022–2026 Table 11: International Ranking of Major TDI Producers (by Revenue), 2026 Table 12: Global Revenue of Major TDI Producers (2022–2026) (in ten-thousand RMB) Table 13: Global Sales Price of Major TDI Producers (2022–2026) (in RMB/ton) Table 14: Market Share of Major TDI Producers in the Chinese Market (by Volume), 2022–2026 Table 15: Ranking of Major TDI Producers in the Chinese Market (by Volume), 2026 Table 16: Sales Volume of Major TDI Producers in the Chinese Market (2022–2026) (in thousand tons) Table 17: Market Share of Major TDI Producers in the Chinese Market (by Revenue), 2022–2026 Table 18: Ranking of Major TDI Producers in the Chinese Market (by Revenue), 2026 Table 19: Revenue of Major TDI Producers in the Chinese Market (2022–2026) (in ten-thousand RMB) Table 20: Global Major TDI Manufacturers: Headquarters and Production Site Distribution Table 21: Establishment Year and Commercialization Date of TDI Products for Global Major Manufacturers Table 22: Product Types and Applications of TDI Offered by Global Major Manufacturers Table 23: Market Positioning of Global Major TDI Manufacturers (Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3), 2026 Table 24: Current Status Analysis of Investment and M&A Activities in the Global TDI Market Table 25: Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of TDI Production Volume by Region (2022 vs. 2026 vs. 2032) (in thousand tons)

OCI Co. to Exit TDI Market

Oct 8, 2026

OCI Co. Ltd. approved shutting down its 50,000 metric tons/year TDI plant in Gunsan by Dec. 18 to improve profitability, ending a business segment contributing 5.9% of total revenue.

chemweek

OCI Co. to Exit TDI Market

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