The Covid years

A look back through the UT Archive between 2018-2023 and why Covid can’t be entirely blamed for the industry’s malaise at the turn of the decade

When I started going through the back issues of this magazine, in January 2024, I assumed that the archive features would get shorter as we got closer to the present day. I thought the newer the stories were, the less interesting they would be in the context of a historical feature.

I was wrong. Here we look through the years 2018-2023, and I’ve found this trawl through the very-near past to be as intriguing as reading stories from 40 years ago. It is now well documented that lockdowns in the pandemic have had a lasting effect on the cognitive abilities and memory of adults – regardless of whether they contracted Covid-19 or not.

What I have found particularly intriguing about this last archive feature is the collective amnesia regarding 2019. Malaise in our industry has been blamed on numerous factors relating to the pandemic, to the Suez Canal blockage, to galloping fuel and materials prices, as if there was no uncertainty in the industry before the pandemic. Few seem to remember what a tough year 2019 was for this industry, so here’s your reminder:
 

BASF planned to double MDI capacity at Geismar, Louisiana plant by 2020, Huntsman used proceeds from selling Venator shares to pay off debt, Chemours broke ground on a new $150m research and 
innovation facility at the University of Delaware, and Wanhua saw its net profit nearly triple in 2017.

Whirlpool China terminated its refrigerator project to focus on its smart laundry machine project, India imposed anti-dumping duties on TDI imports from China, Japan, and Korea, for five years, Kingspan started producing PIR-insulated roofing systems in the UAE, and 
Huntsman announced the death of its founder Jon Huntsman Sr, at age 80.

Huntsman bought Demilec – a spray polyurethane foam insulation specialist –for $350m, China terminated its five-year anti-dumping measures on TDI from EU, Shree Malani Foams began to supply PU mattresses to IKEA India, and Covestro reported record sales of €14.1 billion for 2017. 

Wanhua planned a new 30ktpa TPU facility at its Yantai Industrial Park – raising its total TPU capacity to 90ktpa, Covestro’s Q1 PU sales grew by 7.1% – with higher prices offsetting falling volumes.

Chinese PU resin maker Huide filed for an IPO, Taiwan’s Sdanley DesignWorks unveiled a range of furniture produced using one-component PU spray foam, Huntsman planned to make Demilec a global spray foam business, and the US state of California regulates against exposure to unreacted MDI from SPF.

PU Europe welcomed amendments to the EU’s Energy Performance of Buildings Directive which could lead to greater sales of polyurethane insulation, Vita Group was bought by private equity firm SVP Global, low water levels on the River Rhine forced BASF to stop TDI production in Ludwigshafen, Wanhua confirmed Louisiana, US, location of a new 400ktpa diisocyanate complex, and China banned HCFC-141b as a blowing agent for HVAC and refrigeration applications with effect from January 2019.

A report in Nature magazine alleged that China was still making CFC-11 despite the international ban, Wanhua experienced a 4.7% year-on-year drop in net profit, surfactant maker Maysta saw a 20% year-on-year drop in net profit, and Covestro saw Q1 sales down 16% on the previous year.
Recticel rebuffed a takeover bid from Kingspan (and reported disappointing Q1 2019 sales), sales were also down at Adient, Stepan, Magna, Graco, and Huntsman.

Ingevity completed its purchase of Perstorp’s caprolactones business, 
Adidas introduced Futurecraft.loop – its first 100% recyclable TPU shoe, global car registrations fell 6.4% in June, and 
Chinese mattress imports to the US faced a provisional – whopping – 1372% tariff.

Covestro completed its Taiwanese TPU expansion, Lubrizol created a portfolio of polymers for 100% recyclable TPU shoes, and a market slowdown saw falling revenue at Honeywell, Perstorp, and Lear, while BASF reported a flat year-on-year.

Covestro sold its European systems house business to HIG Capital, Bäumer introduced an AI production monitoring system called Sophie, Dow opened its North American Sleep Studio, and Dahua 
announced plans to become China’s 
largest TDI maker.

At the end of the year, sales were down at Kingspan, Recticel, Pianki, Covestro, BASF, Lanxess, Evonik, Dahua, Adient, Dow, Huntsman and Wanhua. BASF broke ground on its Verbund site in Zhanjiang, FoamPartner was put up for sale by its holding company, Carbon won the 2019 Polyurethane Innovation Award for its 3D-printed American Football helmet liner, and Indian researchers developed polyols from rubber seed oil.

The UK left the EU at midnight (CET) on 31 January, mattress recycling in the US state of California topped the five million mark, Econic investigated using CO2 captured from the Drax power station in UK for its CO2-to-polyols technology, Battelle was given a grant by the US Department of Energy to make polyols from coal, and Covestro put its MDI-500 project in Texas on hold for 18-24 months.

Operating EBIT at Dow Polyurethanes was down 45% in Q4 2019, Huntsman sold its intermediates and surfactants business to Indorama 
Ventures, Japanese PU production fell by 8.9% in November 2019 compared with the previous year, Chinese PU mattress manufacturer Milly opened its first US plant, and Recaro increased its 
aircraft seat capacity in China.

Meanwhile, the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 made its way from Wuhan, China, and started a global pandemic. Businesses across the world were forced to cease activities to stem the spread of the virus. Fortunately, Urethanes Technology International was largely unaffected by the pandemic (though the PDF-only April/May issue was the only issue in the magazine’s history not to have been available as a print edition) as editor Simon Robinson was already working-from-home years before doing so became a necessity. 

Kingspan reported 9.9% profit growth in 2019 despite falling sales, Trelleborg saw earnings plummet by 78% that same year, Chemours saw sales in its fluoroproducts business drop by 26.2% in 2019, and Stepan saw sales drop 6.8% on 2018 figures.

India’s Sheela Foam began its push into the US market, a composite PU-hibiscus 
fibre foam from Covestro was used in Toyota’s LQ electric concept car, and an emergency 1000-bed hospital in Wuhan – built to treat patients suffering from the coronavirus – was built using PU sandwich 
panels, pillows and bathroom modules made using machinery from Jingzheng.

Wanhua broke ground on a new site for diisocyanates and other chemicals in Fuzhou, electric car maker Nio used BASF solvent-free PUDs in the seat covers of its ES6, Huntsman’s spray foam operations Demilec and Icynene-
Lapolla were merged under the 
Huntsman Building Services brand, and Recticel faced falling profitability.

Covestro cut its projections because of the pandemic, Perstorp saw sales down 15.5% in Q1 2020, Lanxess saw Q1 sales down 1.96%, and Grammer expected to make a loss because of OEM production stops. Casper Sleep pulled out of Europe to concentrate on US sales, while Purple Innovation saw sales up 46.4% in Q1 and expected strong sales in Q2 thanks to lockdown internet sales, Dow slowed PU manufacturing to avoid stockpiling, and Adient restructured in anticipation of sales not recovering to pre-pandemic levels.

TPU manufacturer Miracll went public on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, BASF reported an 81% drop in earnings at its materials division in H1 2020, Adidas and Allbirds collaborated on a sports shoe with “almost no carbon footprint”, Dow planned to cut 6% of jobs after a coronavirus-ravaged Q2, Trelleborg announced restructuring in anticipation of the long-term effects of the pandemic, and FoamPartner opened its “smart factory” converting centre in Duderstadt, Germany.

Dow introduced an automated PU formulation system using AI tech, PU production in Japan continued to fall – but at a lower rate, cost controls helped Recticel bounce back, Vita Group joined Dow’s Renuva mattress recycling programme, and China’s PU feedstock market shrunk by 24% in H1 2020.
In late October foamers warned that supply problems and a “vertical, abrupt and unprecedented increase in raw material costs” would hurt the future of PU foam, Mecotec developed a hybrid PU container for storing and transporting coronavirus vaccines at ultra-low temperatures, Covestro launched a greener MDI production technology using 40% less steam and 25% less electricity, and Recticel purchased FoamPartner.

UTECH Europe was rescheduled to 
November 2021 from its usual April spot because of continuing coronavirus 
restrictions, Dow saw a recovery in Q4 2020 sales which were nearly 5% up year-on-year, Greiner packaged its foam businesses together under the new name of Neveon, and BASF completed the first phase of its Geismar MDI update.

Stellar Q4 2020 performance at Wanhua saw its full year net profit falling just 5% on 2019, western European car sales fell by 26% in January 2021 compared with the previous year, Vita Group expanded into Italy with its purchase of IMPE, and Evonik stopped selling silicone surfactants that were high in cyclics or VOCs.

Hennecke reopened its technical centre after it was damaged by fire in the summer of 2020, Magna reported earnings in its seating business were down 66.7% in 2020 compared with its 2019 results, Ingevity began construction on a caprolactane polyol facility in Louisiana, and sandwich panel maker Assan Panel started an Azerbaijan JV with Sumgait Technologies Park. Pearl Polyurethane bought out Covestro’s 51% stake and appointed Martin Kruczinna as CEO, Wanhua increased MDI capacity at Yantai from 600ktpa to 1.1mtpa, Vita Group won two sustainability awards at Interzum for using recycled and castor oil-based polyols, and both Covestro and BASF reported strong starts to 2021.

Recticel rebuffed a takeover bid from Greiner, India levied anti-dumping duties on imported TDI, Wanhua planned increased MDI and HDI capacity at Ningbo, Arkema partnered with Zibo Aofan to make Forane 1233zd blowing agent in China, and Xuchuan Chemical exhibited its lower-VOC rigid foam system at PU China/UTECH Asia.

Miracll started a TPU JV in Hebi with local PTMEG maker Hebi Coal Chemical, Evonik opened a spray foam test facility in Pennsylvania, DuPont won an American Chemistry Council Sustainability Leadership Award for its HFC-free Froth-Pak 
formulation, and Covestro restructured as two divisions: Solutions and Specialties, and Performance Materials.

Volvo pledged to phase out natural leathers by 2030, Recticel’s earnings nearly doubled in H1 2021 compared with the previous year, the Renuva mattress recycling plant in France formally opened for business, and we reported that 
China’s PO capacity was forecast to 
double by 2023.

Visitors to UTECH Europe were shown the first photograph of a polyurethane network at a molecular level by Grazyna Mitchener of PolyChemTech, Lubrizol demonstrated a prototype 100% TPU 
recyclable shoe, and Wanhua saw sales in the first nine months of the year up 118% from the same period in 2020.

Carpenter eyed Recticel’s engineered foam business as a potential takeover target, Saip introduced its Repur system for recycling board and foam into a powder for rebonding, Hong Kong’s Sinomax became the first user of Covestro’s mass-balanced TDI, and Kimpur planned to open a new factory in Duzce, Türkiye.

Editor Simon Robinson took early retirement in May and handed the reins to James Snodgrass who was previously technology editor at Plastics News 
Europe, automotive sales in May 2022 were down on 2021 (itself a disappointing year), Jiahua considered constructing a “world-scale” polyol facility in Texas, 
Blueview introduced recyclable shoes made using algae-based PU from 
Algenesis, and Adidas introduced a shoe designed by controversial rapper Kanye West made with unpigmented PU.

Bostik completed its acquisition of Ashland’s performance adhesives business, Henkel planned to produce Loctite PU adhesives in Australia from Q1 2023, and Ford recalled its Ranger and Bronco pickups and SUVs because of inadequately bonded windscreens.

OSV resumed production in Ukraine and Poland months after shutting down because of the Russian invasion, Finland’s UPM signed a deal with Dongsung to provide it with bio-based monoethylene glycols, Momentive opened a new PU additives plant in southern Italy, and an IAL Consultants survey produced for the. Polyurethanes Technical Conference showed growth in North American PU production through the pandemic.

Citroën unveiled its Oli concept car with body panels of PU-reinforced recycled corrugated cardboard from BASF, Pearl supplied the “world’s largest vertical farm” with PU insulation panels, 
Perstorp was purchased by Petronas, and viscoelastic mattress maker Eve Sleep was bought out of administration by British retailer Bensons for Beds.
 

Kimpur added bio-based polyols to its portfolio, Serta Simmons filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, construction began on the third and final phase of BASF’s MDI expansion in Louisiana, Covestro signed a deal with CGN New Energy to run its Shanghai site with 30% renewable energy, and Epta, Cannon and BASF co-operated on the EU refrigeration efficiency project Life Vicorpan.

Hennecke looked to India for growth, Mitsui cut TDI production by nearly 60%, LyondellBasell opened the “world’s largest” PO and TBA unit in Texas, and 
Covestro planned to build its largest ever TPU site in Zhuhai, China.

Adidas had a net operating loss for Q4 2022 because of the termination of its partnership with Kanye West, Pearl opened a Saudi Arabian production facility in Jeddah, Huntsman MDI from its Netherlands and UK plants achieved ISCC Plus mass balance status, and the UTMech
Index – our indicator of confidence in the PU machinery sector – dropped to its lowest level since records began in 2013.

A US veterinarian warned that 
water-curing PU adhesive is irresistible – and potentially deadly – for dogs, Huntsman saw a year-on-year sales drop of 27% in Q1 2023, Tempur Sealy made a bid to acquire retailer Mattress Firm, and Q1 earnings were down by 28% at 
Lanxess and 44% at Evonik.

Skechers signed up Harry Kane to publicise its first-ever football boot, an American Football team – Green Bay Packers – became a foamer when it purchased Foamation (the maker of the team’s iconic “Cheesehead” hats), Serta Simmons emerged from Chapter 11, and Sheela Foam acquired a majority stake in Kurlon.

Kimpur initiated production at its Düzce plant, Vita Group appointed Omar Hoek as its new CEO, Wanhua won the 2023 Innovation Award at the Polyurethanes Technical Conference for its Wannate 9121 FC PDMI prepolymer for use in the manufacture of moulded wooden pallets, and Huntsman launched a liquid TPU system for rapid midsole production.

Fresh out of Chapter 11, Serta Simmons opened a new mattress factory in Wisconsin, BASF started up its 400ktpa EP expansion at Antwerp, Californian mattress recycling hit the 10 million units mark, and Lanxess announced it was to sell its 
urethanes systems business.