Global Chemical Market Weekly Update (April 18–24, 2026): Supply Chain Adjustments, Green Production Upgrades And Rising Demand For Specialty Inorganic Chemicals

In the past week spanning April 18 to 24, 2026, the worldwide chemical sector has witnessed comprehensive shifts across industrial production capacity, cross-border trade policies, raw material cost fluctuations, and low-carbon manufacturing upgrades. Both China and major industrial economies in Europe and North America have rolled out new regulatory guidelines, expanded high-purity chemical production capacity, and adjusted export supply strategies. Driven by surging downstream demand from water treatment, new energy batteries, agricultural additives, catalyst manufacturing and feed processing markets, multiple high-value fine chemical products have entered a stable upward demand cycle. Among them, DTPA, ammonium molybdate and manganese carbonate have gained extensive attention from global importers, with obvious positive changes in global supply tightness, export quotations and industrial application expansion.

China's fine chemical industry kicked off a new round of capacity optimization and environmental compliance upgrading this week. Domestic regulatory authorities strengthened supervision on energy consumption, emission control and product quality consistency for bulk chelating agents, molybdenum salts and manganese salt manufacturers. Small-scale outdated production lines with high pollution and unstable product quality have been gradually rectified, while leading qualified producers have expanded standardized production capacity to fill global supply gaps. This industrial consolidation trend has greatly stabilized overall product quality in the global market, and improved the comprehensive competitiveness of Chinese chemical exports in international trade. Strict inspection standards on heavy metal impurities, solubility indicators and batch uniformity have also raised the industry threshold, benefiting large-scale suppliers with complete production chains and mature quality control systems.

Strong downstream consumption has become the core driving force supporting the market growth of three key chemical materials this week. DTPA, short for diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid, maintains robust global demand from industrial wastewater treatment, agricultural micronutrient chelation, pharmaceutical intermediate purification and textile dyeing auxiliary sectors. Global municipal water treatment projects launched in Southeast Asia and Latin America have largely increased procurement volume of high-purity DTPA for heavy metal ion chelation and water quality purification. Its superior metal complexing stability compared with traditional chelating agents keeps it irreplaceable in alkaline water environment treatment. Meanwhile, growing demand for trace element chelated fertilizers further pushes continuous consumption of industrial-grade DTPA across global agricultural raw material supply chains. Export prices of industrial 99% purity DTPA from Chinese manufacturers remained steady with slight upward adjustments this week, supported by stable raw material supply of diethylenetriamine and tight ocean freight space for bulk chemical cargoes.

The catalyst and agricultural material markets have brought continuous incremental demand for ammonium molybdate over the past seven days. As a core raw material for industrial desulfurization catalysts, high-temperature coating corrosion inhibitors and agricultural molybdenum nutrient fertilizers, ammonium molybdate sees expanding application scope in global low-carbon chemical production. European petrochemical enterprises newly expanded flue gas desulfurization device operating capacity, which directly lifted bulk procurement of high-purity ammonium molybdate for catalyst preparation. In global agricultural markets, large-scale farmland planting expansion in African and South American regions raised demand for molybdenum-supplemented compound fertilizers. Agricultural-grade ammonium molybdate with low heavy metal content becomes the first choice for global fertilizer manufacturers, as it effectively promotes nitrogen fixation of leguminous crops and improves overall crop nutrient absorption efficiency. Multiple international feedstock buyers increased weekly order quantity, and most qualified Chinese suppliers maintained sufficient inventory to meet global delivery requirements.

New energy battery industrial chain expansion has become the biggest highlight driving market heat of manganese carbonate in this weekly market update. Manganese carbonate serves as a fundamental precursor raw material for manganese-based cathode materials of lithium-ion batteries, widely applied in energy storage batteries, electric vehicle power batteries and small portable electronic batteries. Global EV production recovery and large-scale grid energy storage project construction across Europe and North America stimulated explosive growth in demand for battery-grade manganese carbonate with high purity and low impurity. Apart from battery applications, global feed additive and ceramic manufacturing markets also maintained rigid demand for industrial and feed-grade manganese carbonate. The recent tight supply of upstream manganese ore raw materials caused mild price fluctuation of manganese carbonate in the global spot market. Chinese manufacturers optimized roasting and precipitation production processes to improve product yield, alleviating global supply pressure while ensuring stable product specification consistency for long-term export orders.

On the global trade front, multiple regional policy adjustments brought new export opportunities for Chinese fine chemical suppliers. The European Union maintained relaxed customs clearance efficiency for industrial inorganic chemicals and chelating agent imports, while continuing to implement REACH registration compliance supervision. Import tariffs for qualified low-carbon chemical products remained preferential, which is favorable for exports of green-produced DTPA, ammonium molybdate and manganese carbonate. India and ASEAN nations further expanded domestic industrial raw material import quotas to support their domestic water treatment, feed processing and new energy material industrial development, creating massive incremental procurement demand for cost-effective Chinese chemical raw materials. Meanwhile, global logistics cost slightly declined compared with last month, shortening overall shipping cycle and improving on-time delivery rate for cross-border chemical cargo transportation.

Global chemical manufacturers are also accelerating low-carbon production transformation in response to worldwide carbon emission reduction goals. Leading producers optimized production procedures, adopted clean energy power supply and closed-loop wastewater recycling systems to reduce carbon footprint of finished products. For chelating agent and metal salt product lines including DTPA, ammonium molybdate and manganese carbonate, low-carbon production certification has gradually become an essential competitive advantage for accessing high-end European and American buyer markets. More suppliers launched green production traceability systems, providing complete carbon footprint analysis reports for bulk export orders to meet international sustainable procurement standards.

Overall, the past week witnessed positive and steady development across the global fine chemical industry. Industrial capacity restructuring in China, expanding downstream application demand worldwide, favorable cross-border trade policies and low-carbon production upgrading jointly support stable market operation of core chemical products. Continuous expansion of downstream application scenarios will keep market demand of DTPA, ammonium molybdate and manganese carbonate sustained in the coming period. Global buyers will keep prioritizing stable, high-quality and cost-effective supply sources with complete qualification certification to secure long-term raw material supply for their industrial production.