In the early of July, two MDI manufacturers have announced Equipment Maintenance, which lead to the reduction of MDI production. Furthermore, the shortage of MDI is coming as well as the price increasing. 

As MDI is the main raw material of polyurethane foam (PU Foam) product, of course, the polyurethane foam (PU Foam) price will be increased. 

COVESTRO:

July 2nd,2021, Covestro announce FM MDI in effect:

“Dear Sir/Madam:

We were forced to shut down parts of the MDl production in our facility in Brunsbüttel due to an unforeseeable production issue which blocked several relevant installations which now turned cut to be more severe than originally expected. The cause was a mechanical failure in our production (system) unit which was beyond our reasonable control. Unfortunately, the shutdown falls into a period where we intended to build up inventory prior a long planed and legally required annual maintenance shutdown in August/ September.

At this moment, we cannot predict how long this situation will continue, but we anticipate significant delivery delays for all directly affected pMDI and mMDI products as specified below.
We therefore regret to inform you that as a result of the situation described above, we have to declare Force Majeure for all MDI products as in attached list with effect of July 2nd, 2021.

During the period of Force Majeure we cannot guarantee any punctual deliveries- in some cases we will not be able to ensure supply at all. However, wherever possible we will make sure that we inform you about alternative solutions. We will of course keep you informed about the allocated volumes and measures taken to minimize disruptions on your side. We will further provide an update whenever a significant change of the situation occurs.

We apologize for this situation and do our utmost to get back to acceptable supply as soon as possible. Your account manager will be in contact with you shortly”

WANHUA CHEMICAL:

On July 5th, 2021, Wanhua chemical released MDI maintenance announcement:

“Considering the production process characteristics of chemical enterprises and ensuring the safe and effective operation of the production unit, the MDI unit (110 k tons/a) in Yantai Industrial Park will be shut down for maintenance on July 10th, 2021 according to the annual maintenance plan, where it is expected to last about 25 days. The maintenance according to the annual plan, which will not affect the production and operation of the company.”