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HZ Info, On October 26, the world's first thousand-ton-scale emulsion hydrogenation hydrogenated nitrile butadiene rubber (HNBR) production facility was successfully commissioned on its first startup at Lanzhou Petrochemical. The performance indicators of the first batch of products all exceed international levels for comparable products, marking PetroChina's successful mastery of the core technologies for HNBR and a new major breakthrough in its progress toward becoming a "Product Giant" in nitrile butadiene rubber. Hydrogenated nitrile butadiene rubber is a high-performance specialty synthetic rubber with excellent oil resistance, heat resistance, and low-temperature resistance. It is a specialty rubber and strategic material with good overall performance and significant development potential. Lanzhou Petrochemical has long relied on its capacity advantage of ranking first in Asia and second in the world in nitrile butadiene rubber, adhered to scientific and technological innovation, and committed itself over the long term to tackling key core technologies for HNBR. The 1,000 t/y HNBR facility adopts the internationally leading, green and low-carbon advanced process route, mainly covering two principal process units: emulsion hydrogenation and blending-coagulation post-treatment. The products feature good oil resistance, heat resistance, chemical corrosion resistance, and ozone resistance, and are mainly used in key fields such as new energy, high-end equipment, oil and gas extraction, and automotive core components. After the facility is put into operation, it will effectively fill PetroChina's capacity gap in high-end specialty rubber, enrich its product matrix, and significantly enhance PetroChina's core competitiveness and market discourse power in the new materials field.
October 23–24, 2026 — The 2026 Powder Coating & Finishing Exhibition (CPCFE) was successfully held in Hall A3 of Xiamen International Conference & Exhibition Center. As a prestigious professional event in China’s powder coating and finishing sector, the exhibition is hosted by CNOOC Changzhou Paint and Coatings Industry Research Institute Co., Ltd. and the Coatings & Finishing Specialized Committee of the Chemical Industry and Engineering Society of China. It brought together enterprises from the whole powder coating industrial chain to showcase cutting-edge materials, innovative processes and integrated application solutions. Centered on three major themes: technological innovation, green and low-carbon transition, and upgraded surface aesthetics, the show served as an efficient platform for technical exchange and business matching. SuoShi Chemical made a strong appearance with its featured additives at Booth D29-D32, discussing new industrial opportunities with peers from the sector. At the exhibition, the SuoShi Chemical team introduced product features, application scenarios and customized supporting solutions to visiting clients and industry partners. In-depth exchanges covered hot topics including powder coating formulation optimization, low-carbon product development and bottlenecks in coating processes. Drawing on years of technological expertise and multi-site production capacity, SuoShi Chemical keeps focusing on the green and high-performance development of the powder coating industry, and continuously develops high-quality additives. This participation in CPCFE Xiamen marks a key opportunity for SuoShi Chemical to demonstrate its technical strength and connect with downstream customers, as well as a valuable chance to learn from counterparts across the industrial chain. Going forward, SuoShi Chemical will keep prioritizing R&D innovation. Supported by its multiple production bases and nationwide service network, the company will continue to deliver stable and reliable powder coating additives and technical support. It will join hands with industrial chain partners to advance the high-quality, green and low-carbon development of the powder coating industry. About SuoShi Chemical Founded in 2003, SuoShi Chemical is an integrated manufacturer of powder coating additives covering R&D, production and sales. Its Guangdong R&D and production base, Dongguan SuoShi New Materials Co., Ltd., occupies an area of 10,000 square meters with an annual capacity of 5,000 tons. Equipped with application and synthesis laboratories, the facility boasts a top-tier R&D team and independent intellectual property rights. The company also operates synthesis plants in Guangzhou and Yueyang, bringing its total annual capacity to 20,000 tons. Service offices are located in Guangdong, Shanghai, Ningbo, Langfang, Chengdu and Wuhan. Benefiting from a comprehensive product portfolio, superior performance, professional after-sales service and consistent quality, SuoShi Chemical has earned wide trust from users and established itself as one of China’s technically capable powder coating additive suppliers. In 2022, in response to national regulatory requirements for fine chemicals, SuoShi New Materials launched a strategic upgrade project with an investment of RMB 180 million: Hunan SuoShi Chemical, a smart factory with an annual output of 5,000 tons of powder coating additives. Situated in the National Yueyang Green Chemical High-Tech Development Zone in Hunan Province, the plant spans approximately 35,000 square meters. It sits adjacent to national flagship projects including Sinopec’s 600,000-ton caprolactam facility and 1-million-ton ethylene project. The park is fully equipped with supporting utilities for water, power, steam and wastewater treatment. The launch of Hunan SuoShi Chemical lays a solid foundation for the company’s long-term sustainable growth and opens a new chapter for its future expansion.
HZ Info, CNPC’s Blue Ocean New Materials (Tongzhou Bay) high-end polyolefin new materials project is expected to be ready for start-up in November. This follows the Daqing Petrochemical POE industrial demonstration unit having achieved full-process operation, marking a shift in CNPC’s self-developed high-end polyolefin technology portfolio from “demonstration validation” toward “large-scale commercial deployment.” The project’s new units include a 100,000 tonnes/year 1-hexene/1-octene unit, a 100,000 tonnes/year POE (polyolefin elastomer) unit, a 200,000 tonnes/year full-density polyethylene (FDPE) unit, and 2 × 25,000 tonnes/year ethylene-propylene rubber (EPR) units. The project builds an integrated industrial chain around “alpha-olefin monomer—elastomer—polyolefin”: 1-hexene/1-octene will be self-supplied as key comonomers for POE and high-value-added polyethylene; POE, FDPE, and EPR will form a product matrix covering end markets such as photovoltaics, automobiles, and wire and cable. Polyolefin elastomer (POE) is produced by copolymerizing ethylene with alpha-olefins such as 1-butene, 1-hexene, and 1-octene, mostly using metallocene catalysis. Its molecular structure combines polyethylene crystalline segments and amorphous copolymer segments: the former provide strength and processability, while the latter provide elasticity and flexibility. As a result, POE has rubber-like high elasticity and excellent transparency at room temperature, and can also flow plastically and be easily processed like a plastic at high temperatures. The industry calls it “a rubber that can be molded and a plastic that can rebound.” PV encapsulant film is the largest application market for POE. POE combines thermoplasticity and high elasticity, with outstanding aging resistance, UV resistance, and electrical insulation, and is mainly used for encapsulating advanced photovoltaic cells. Automotive modification is becoming the main incremental market. As a toughening material, POE is widely used in bumpers, interior parts, and elastic components, supporting vehicle lightweighting and improved safety; as new energy vehicles continue to raise material performance requirements, demand elasticity for automotive POE is opening up. In addition, POE is also used in foamed footwear materials, wire and cable, medical consumables, and other fields. In 2026, China’s POE market is shifting from “scarcity and high prices” to “competition-driven volume expansion.” As of August 2026, China’s cumulative POE capacity had reached 860,000 tonnes/year, up 27% from the end of 2025; planned, under-construction, and proposed capacity has exceeded 6 million tonnes/year. Central state-owned enterprises, private-sector leaders, and coal-based newcomers are advancing on three tracks, with participants including CNPC, Sinopec, Wanhua Chemical, Eastern Shenghong, Dingjide, Levima Advanced Materials, Beyondpoly, Ningxia Baofeng, Shaanxi Yuneng, and Dongming Petrochemical.
HZ Info, On October 23, Shanghai Aurora Chemical held a Laurence World Records certification and plaque presentation ceremony in Shanghai. Its self-developed inorganic radiative cooling coatings technology was officially reviewed by Laurence World Records and certified as “the world’s first inorganic radiative cooling coatings technology.” Since 2013, Aurora has been deeply engaged in the field of radiative cooling technology, and in January 2024 it achieved the world’s first inorganic radiative cooling coatings technology. The technology adopts an inorganic modified silicate system and builds a multi-component inorganic functional filler compound system, achieving integrated multifunctionality with high-efficiency cooling, high weather resistance, flame retardancy and fire resistance, and ultra-low VOC. Peng Jie, Chairman of Aurora Group In her speech, Peng Jie, Chairman of Aurora Group, reviewed the company’s technological path: over the 26 years since its founding, Aurora has always focused on R&D innovation and industrialization of energy-saving thermal insulation and environmentally friendly inorganic coatings new materials. In 2013, the company took the lead in entering the core materials track for reflective thermal insulation coatings, independently developing core products such as infrared reflective color pastes, functional microspheres, and aerogel thermal insulation materials, and grew into a leading raw material and technology solution provider in China’s reflective thermal insulation coatingss field. In 2023, Aurora took the lead in launching a commercial electricity-free cooling pigment system, promoting the market application of radiative cooling coatingss in China; in 2024, it released the “SOUCOOL” electricity-free cooling coatings product series and led the organization of China’s first special technical salon on radiative cooling coatings. Radiative cooling is a passive cooling technology. Its core principle is to radiate heat to space through the 8–13 μm infrared atmospheric window, so that the surface temperature remains lower than the ambient temperature even under direct sunlight. Unlike traditional active cooling technologies, it does not consume electricity, fundamentally avoiding problems such as power consumption, carbon emissions, and ozone depletion caused by refrigerants. In the technical introduction, Xu Kaibin, Technical Director of Aurora, pointed out that compared with traditional white coatings, radiative cooling coatings have higher cooling efficiency and can make surface temperatures lower than ambient temperature. This technological route has continued to attract international attention in recent years. At this year’s Davos Forum, radiative cooling materials technology was listed as one of the Top 10 Emerging Technologies. At present, the technology is ready for mass production and commercialization. In terms of key technical indicators, the SOUCOOL series products developed by Aurora perform excellently in solar reflectance, hemispherical emissivity, and atmospheric-window emissivity. Studies show that solar reflectance plays a decisive role in cooling performance; when the total solar reflectance is above 0.90, even at ordinary emissivity, the coatings surface temperature can still be lower than ambient temperature. To this end, Aurora adopted multiple strategies in its technical approach, including selecting inorganic silicate resins and wide-bandgap pigments, constructing porous structures, designing composite coatings systems, and optimizing pigment particle size combinations, thereby improving performance from both material and structural aspects. After the ceremony, the guests visited Aurora’s R&D center and factory area to gain an on-site understanding of its technology R&D and application translation capabilities. Under the “dual carbon” strategy, radiative cooling coatings, as a key material for green buildings and energy conservation and consumption reduction, are embracing important development opportunities. Chinese companies represented by Aurora are driving the industry’s transformation from “traditional manufacturing” to “green intelligent manufacturing” through continuous technological innovation, providing material support for building a low-carbon and sustainable development environment.
HZ Info，Kuangshun announced that its Hanpu Graphene eco-friendly non-zinc graphene heavy-duty anti-corrosion coating has newly passed two tests under NORSOK M-501:2022 (Edition 7): the splash zone (7A) and the full seawater immersion zone (7B). Together with the offshore atmospheric zone (1B) test it had already passed, the product now fully covers the testing requirements for the three major application areas under NORSOK M-501: 1B, 7A and 7B. In the same period, the product also obtained the China Environmental Labeling Product Certification (the “Ten-Ring Certification”), crossing key thresholds simultaneously on both performance and environmental compliance. Kuangshun did not adopt the mainstream zinc-rich or zinc-graphene systems, but instead entered the market with a non-zinc graphene system. According to the company announcement, this choice targets the inherent limitations of zinc-rich coatings—zinc consumption and protection degradation under long-term seawater immersion and splash conditions—as well as the increasingly prominent cost issues in the coating process arising from the environmental footprint and resource constraints of zinc powder. Test data disclosed in the announcement show that the submitted coating has VOC ≤ 80 g/L, with glycol ethers and their esters, benzene series, halogenated hydrocarbons, soluble heavy metals and free formaldehyde all undetected; all nine required test items passed. While fully obtaining the NORSOK tests for the three major zones, the product also passed the environmental indicators of the “Ten-Ring Certification,” namely the China Environmental Labeling Product Certification, an authoritative voluntary environmental certification in China, indicating that the product complies with specific environmental requirements throughout its life cycle. With the implementation of GB 30981.2-2025 in June 2026 and the launch of the VOCs environmental protection tax pilot in January 2027, VOCs emissions in the coating process are shifting from a compliance cost to a tax cost. Its low-VOC advantage makes it easier to meet the compliance needs of customers in offshore engineering, petrochemicals, ports and other sectors with large coating volumes and long maintenance cycles. As an important enterprise in China’s functional coating materials field, Kuangshun mainly engages in PCB photoresists, display photoresists, photovoltaic adhesives, marine engineering coatings, high-performance industrial protective coatings, consumer electronics coatings, automotive coatings, functional films and metal packaging coatings. In the first half of 2026, Kuangshun achieved operating revenue of RMB 263 million, up 12.79% year on year; net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company was RMB 14.8476 million, up 9.65% year on year. The company has positioned graphene heavy-duty anti-corrosion coatings as a key direction for eco-friendly high-performance special functional coating materials, and the market views this business as an important growth vehicle for the company’s functional coating materials segment.
HZ Info, Emulsion supplier BATF Group recently held a technical seminar in Hanoi, Vietnam, bringing together more than 130 customers and partners from Vietnam’s coatings and building materials industries to exchange views on coating raw material innovation, product applications, and market cooperation. This was BATF’s second large-scale technical promotion event in Vietnam. Several senior executives from BATF attended, along with R&D experts from multiple product lines. This indicates that BATF hopes to build more than a buyer-seller relationship with local customers. In the first three quarters of 2026, Vietnam’s GDP grew by 9.01% year on year, with value added in construction up 12.22%. The continued expansion of construction activity has provided market opportunities for related materials companies. In his welcome remarks, BATF Group CEO Gong Yanglong clearly expressed the company’s willingness to continue increasing investment in Vietnam and the Southeast Asian market, placing green innovation, customer value, and local cooperation in important positions. GETZ, as BATF’s agent in Vietnam, has cooperated with BATF for more than six years. GETZ General Manager TuAnh reviewed the history of cooperation between the two sides at the event and expressed willingness to further deepen the cooperation. At this seminar, BATF moved beyond the traditional approach of promoting individual products and systematically shared technical insights across four product lines: architectural coatings, waterproofing materials, redispersible polymer powder (RDP), and functional additives. BATF’s focus on localized scenarios this time also reflects a shift in its overseas business strategy—compared with simply exporting products, the company is increasingly emphasizing localized product adaptation and upfront technical services. According to HZ Info, after years of deepening its presence, BATF’s compound annual growth rate in the Vietnamese market has exceeded 40%, and its product application scenarios have gradually expanded from a single segment in the early stage to multiple fields such as waterproofing, waterborne wood coatings, and supporting additives. The continuous broadening of application boundaries reflects BATF’s ongoing efforts to improve the coverage of its product system in the Vietnamese market.
The 2026 China Coatings Industry Information Annual Conference was held, at which Qi Xiangzhao, Deputy Secretary-General of the China Coatings Industry Association, delivered the report “Analysis of the Economic Operation and Development Trends of the Coatings Industry in the First Three Quarters of 2026.” The report first reviewed the macroeconomic environment. In the first half of 2026, China’s GDP reached 69.5704 trillion RMB, up 4.7% year on year. The value added of industrial enterprises above designated size rose 5.4% year on year, with manufacturing value added up 5.5%, driving economic growth by 1.7 and 1.4 percentage points, respectively. Qi said the national economy operated within a reasonable range, new quality productive forces were cultivated and expanded, and high-quality development moved toward new and better levels. However, uncertainties markedly increased, including external geopolitical conflicts, fluctuations in crude oil and related industrial chains, trade containment and supply chain restructuring; domestically, prominent contradictions remained, such as insufficient effective demand, strong supply but weak demand, and “involution-style” competition. From the perspective of downstream demand, the coatings market showed clear divergence. The real estate industry continued deep structural adjustment, and demand for furniture in the consumer sector continued to decline. Under the combined impact of the “two new” (large-scale equipment renewals and consumer goods trade-ins) and “two major” (major national strategies and security capacity building in key areas) policies and consumer demand, demand in fields such as home appliances and automobiles fluctuated and adjusted. Demand in machinery, new energy, power and related industries grew significantly. The report held that strong demand in machinery, shipbuilding, artificial intelligence, biomedicine and other industries, as well as in major infrastructure projects such as power and new energy, is becoming a new driver of demand growth for the coatings and pigments industry. Traditional industries face challenges in expanding scale, while emerging pillar industries urgently need growth. From January to August 2026, China’s total coatings output was 21.427 million tonnes, down 4.4% year on year. Total main business revenue was 236.65 billion RMB, down 0.03% year on year. Total profit was 15.51 billion RMB, down 14.7% year on year, and pressure on industry profitability still warrants attention. Starting in March 2026, affected by geopolitical conflicts, soaring prices along the oil chain drove up prices in the upstream coatings supply chain, significantly squeezing corporate profit margins. Enterprise sales rose slightly in the second quarter, but production declined markedly under the impact of low profits and weak market demand. On a month-on-month basis, profits fell rapidly in the second quarter, edged up and stabilized in June, while production and sales generally rose month on month. In terms of prices and costs, the China Coatings Industry Price Index, jointly compiled and released by the China Coatings Industry Association and iBuyChem (iBuyChem), showed that the finished coatings price index generally moved upward in 2026, while the procurement cost index first rose and then fell but remained higher than a year earlier. The report judged that raw material procurement will remain at medium-to-high price levels in the fourth quarter, and finished coatings prices will edge upward. In contrast to domestic pressure, imports and exports became a bright spot for the industry. From January to August 2026, coatings exports reached 338,300 tonnes and US$988 million, up 32.95% and 26.84% year on year, respectively. Titanium dioxide pigment exports totaled 1.3568 million tonnes and US$2.859 billion, up 14.01% and 18.86% year on year, respectively; among them, chloride-process titanium dioxide exports reached 338,300 tonnes, up 49.21%; iron oxide pigment exports were 218,600 tonnes, up 5.95%. The three product categories combined exported 1.9138 million tonnes worth US$4.052 billion, with net exports of 1.6345 million tonnes worth US$2.428 billion, a rapid rebound compared with 2025. Qi further noted that double-digit growth in both coatings export volume and value, with import volume falling below 100,000 tonnes, reflected significantly enhanced international recognition and applicability of China’s coatings industry, leapfrog growth in overseas business and a marked decline in external dependence. Looking ahead to the full year, Qi said the industry will remain in a period of transformation and adjustment, and green and low-carbon policies will continue to constrain the development of high-pollution and high-energy-consumption industries. Demand will continue to grow in fields such as wind and solar power and energy storage, machinery and equipment, automobiles, ships, large-scale infrastructure protection and building renovation, as well as for energy-saving, antibacterial, antiviral and other functional products. It is estimated that the decline in full-year coatings output will narrow to about -3%; main business revenue is expected to fall by 2%; total profit growth will turn negative under the squeeze of volatile and rising upstream raw materials, structural adjustment of end-user demand and the levy of environmental taxes, with a full-year decline of 8% expected; and the industry as a whole will continue to operate under pressure. Coatings exports will continue to maintain high growth, and annual export volume growth is expected to remain above 20%.
On October 23–24, 2026, the 2026 Powder Coatings & Finishing Exhibition (CPCFE) will grandly open in Hall A3 of Xiamen International Conference & Exhibition Center. As a highly influential professional industry event in China’s powder coatings and finishing sector, this exhibition brings together enterprises across the whole industrial chain to display cutting-edge materials, innovative technologies and integrated solutions. Hosted by CNOOC Changzhou Paint and Coatings Chemical Industry Research Institute Co., Ltd. and the Coatings & Finishing Committee of the Chemical Industry and Engineering Society of China, the exhibition builds a high-quality platform for technical exchanges and business matching. SuoShi Chemical will present its featured products at Booth D29-D32. At the exhibition, the SuoShi Chemical team will conduct in-person in-depth discussions with customers and experts from the powder coatings and finishing industry nationwide. Together, they will address technical pain points, explore new market opportunities, and jointly advance the green and high-quality development of the powder coatings industry. The powder coatings industry is continuously evolving toward low VOC, high performance, energy conservation and environmental protection. This exhibition will highlight the latest technological achievements and market trends of the sector. SuoShi Chemical sincerely invites new and existing clients as well as industry partners to visit Booth D29-D32 for exchanges and business negotiations, to jointly drive industrial progress. Exhibition Name: 2026 Powder Coatings & Finishing Exhibition (CPCFE) Date: October 23–24, 2026 Venue: Hall A3, Xiamen International Conference & Exhibition Center SuoShi Chemical Booth: D29-D32 About SuoShi Chemical Founded in 2003, SuoShi Chemical is an enterprise integrating R&D, production and sales of powder coating additives. Its R&D and production base in Guangdong, Dongguan Suoshi New Materials Co., Ltd., covers an area of 10,000 square meters with an annual capacity of 5,000 tons. Equipped with application and synthesis laboratories, the factory boasts a top-tier R&D team and independent intellectual property rights. The Group also operates synthesis plants in Guangzhou and Yueyang, with a total annual capacity of 20,000 tons, and has established service offices in Guangdong, Shanghai, Ningbo, Langfang, Chengdu and Wuhan. Benefiting from a complete product portfolio, superior performance, professional after-sales service and stable quality, SuoShi Chemical has earned wide recognition from users and stands as one of China’s professional powder coating additive manufacturers with independent development capabilities. In 2022, in response to national fine chemical regulatory requirements, Suoshi New Materials invested 180 million RMB in a strategic upgrade project: Hunan SuoShi Chemical, a smart factory with an annual output of 5,000 tons of powder coating additives. Located in the National High-Tech Zone of Yueyang Green Chemical Industry in Hunan Province, the factory occupies approximately 35,000 square meters. It sits adjacent to national flagship projects including Sinopec’s 600,000-ton caprolactam and 1-million-ton ethylene facilities. The park is fully equipped with supporting utilities for water, power, steam and sewage treatment. The launch of Hunan SuoShi Chemical has laid a solid foundation for the company’s sustainable development and opened a new chapter for future growth.
HZ Info, Relying on stable and reliable product performance and complete coatings solutions suited to complex operating conditions, HAOLISEN Coatings continues to expand the overseas application footprint of Chinese industrial coatings and has achieved an important on-the-ground breakthrough in the overseas livestock equipment sector. As its global layout continues to advance, HAOLISEN has accurately seized opportunities in the development of the overseas smart livestock farming industry and deeply entered the smart livestock equipment sector. In response to the actual operating environments of overseas livestock farming equipment, HAOLISEN has leveraged its years of technical accumulation in the electrophoretic coatings field. With its excellent anti-corrosion performance and outstanding weather resistance, it has successfully established cooperation with Technical Systems, a global leader in livestock and poultry feeding and conveying systems. Related electrophoretic coating products have achieved batch supply and are widely used in core components of livestock farming machinery exported to South Africa, gaining full recognition and trust from overseas customers in the African market. Technical Systems is headquartered in South Africa, with business covering 58 countries and regions worldwide. It is a benchmark enterprise in scaled smart livestock farming equipment in the industry. The company focuses on the R&D and manufacturing of complete automated feeding equipment for large-scale farms such as chicken farms and pig farms. Its core products include feed conveying chains, augers, and other key accessories for livestock equipment, with strong annual production capacity of 8 million meters of augers and 10 million meters of feed conveying chains. At the same time, the company has established overseas warehousing systems in China, the United States, Europe, and other locations, with efficient and comprehensive global delivery and supply chain support capabilities. Its products are widely used in large-scale farming bases around the world. South Africa's livestock farming conditions are harsh, with high-temperature and high-humidity climates and biological corrosion in the farming environment. Components such as chains and pen bodies are prone to rust, wear, and paint peeling, which not only shortens equipment service life but also interferes with the normal operation of the entire feeding system. In light of South Africa's special climatic conditions and the actual pain points of livestock farming scenarios, HAOLISEN carried out dedicated R&D and debugging and tailor-made a blue electrophoretic coating suitable for livestock machinery chains and pen components. This customized electrophoretic coating forms a uniform and dense film, with strong coating adhesion and excellent impact resistance. It can effectively resist rust corrosion and mechanical wear and tear caused by complex environments. Even under long-term exposure to harsh environments with high temperature, humidity, and biological corrosion, it can still maintain the integrity of the equipment coating film, protect components from environmental damage, ensure the long-term stable operation of livestock farming machinery, and fully meet the service requirements for long-term use of large-scale livestock equipment. This cooperation not only helps the overseas leading enterprise upgrade the quality of its livestock equipment, but also builds a solid reputation for domestic industrial coatings in developing the African livestock market, while accumulating practical experience for Chinese coating enterprises going global to serve overseas modern agriculture.
HZ Info, On October 15, Arkema announced that its Shanghai R&D Center had completed expansion and was officially inaugurated. This will take the center into a new phase, strengthening its strategic role as an innovation platform for the Group and better serving the development needs of the group's various business areas. The upgraded R&D center will promote cross-business collaboration and work with customers in China and Asia on joint innovation, accelerating the development of cutting-edge applications and advanced sustainable material solutions. This expansion is also highly aligned with the Arkema's strategic direction of continuously strengthening its global R&D network. Thierry Le Hénaff, Chairman and CEO of Arkema Group, together with the Consul General of France in Shanghai, local government representatives, customers, partners, and management representatives, jointly inaugurated the upgraded R&D center. Mr. Thierry Le Hénaff, Chairman and CEO of Arkema Group, said: "China is Arkema's second-largest country market and one of the most dynamic innovation markets in the world. Chinese industries and customers are continuously accelerating the pace of R&D, which requires us to continuously strengthen our local R&D capabilities so as to be closer to the market and actual application needs. This upgrade of the Shanghai R&D Center will help us better integrate technical expertise across different businesses and co-develop with customers specialty material solutions that combine high performance and sustainability." The Arkema Shanghai R&D Center was formerly the Bostik Asia R&D Center, established in 2011. Over the 15 years since its establishment, the center has built R&D capabilities covering material synthesis, formulation development, and validation using simulated customer production lines. Many of its R&D results have been applied in fields such as high-speed rail, food packaging, and sustainable consumer goods. This expansion of the R&D center focuses on the "One Arkema" strategy, strengthening Arkema's role in the value chain as a deep co-creation partner for customers by connecting material expertise across different business units. After the upgrade, laboratory space has increased by approximately 20%, and new co-creation spaces, including an interactive showroom, have been added. These will visually showcase Arkema's one-stop specialty material solutions and facilitate closer interaction with customers and partners. At the same time, they will further deepen connections with the local innovation ecosystem. Through cooperation with institutions such as Shanghai Chemical Industry Park (SCIP) and Lücheng Industrial (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., the center will strengthen ties with start-ups and emerging technology companies. In China, Arkema will continue to expand its local R&D network in key regions: ● At the beginning of this year, Arkema launched a modernization and capacity expansion project for the battery materials laboratory at its Changshu R&D Center. In the next two months, the project will reach an important new milestone. ● In Guangzhou, Arkema is advancing the construction of a "One Arkema" laboratory, focusing on serving customers in the electronics and battery sectors. Globally, Arkema will continue to rely on its strong global R&D network to enhance innovation capabilities, fully integrating the professional experience of its Chinese R&D team with the technical expertise of the Group's R&D centers in other parts of Asia, Europe, and the United States.
