China’s PP producers are entering an unusually heavy and front-loaded maintenance cycle in 2026, a move that could offer short-term relief to a market grappling with prolonged margin erosion and entrenched oversupply.
Lotte Chemical Corporation has formalised a partial maintenance schedule at its flagship Yeosu petrochemical complex, a move widely expected to tighten the Northeast Asian polyolefin supply balance into the second quarter of 2026.
The broader supply outlook for 2026 will be shaped less by maintenance activity than by the scale of incoming capacity. China is on track to commission approximately 5.6 million tons of new PE capacity next year