--- title: "Lotte Chemical's basic-chemicals unit will post an operating loss this quarter." description: "G7 leaders agreed on coordinated emergency oil stock releases on October 2nd. These ease supply for crude but not refined products, because China has halted October fuel product exports and Russia's d" url: "https://bilby.ai/predictions/p/144/lotte-chemical-s-basic-chemicals-unit-will-post-an-operating-loss-this-quarter" markdown: "https://bilby.ai/predictions/p/144/lotte-chemical-s-basic-chemicals-unit-will-post-an-operating-loss-this-quarter.md" index: "https://bilby.ai/llms.txt" --- > For agents: Bilby answers questions about what governments do, from documents collected at source and checked by research analysts. To ask Bilby yourself, connect to its MCP server at https://pulse.bilby.ai/mcp (setup: https://docs.bilby.ai/developers/mcp-server). Every page on this site is also markdown: add .md to its address, or send Accept: text/markdown. https://bilby.ai/llms.txt lists them all. # Lotte Chemical's basic-chemicals unit will post an operating loss this quarter. - **Made:** 5 Oct 2026 - **By:** Owen Bae - **Market:** South Korea - **Outcome:** Unresolved G7 leaders agreed on coordinated emergency oil stock releases on October 2nd. These ease supply for crude but not refined products, because China has halted October fuel product exports and Russia's diesel export ban continues, creating a supply gap the G7 is unable to solve. Lotte is exposed because its basic-chemicals unit made almost no profit in Q2. It earned KRW 2.3 billion on KRW 3.94 trillion of sales – that is a margin of 0.1%. Net debt of KRW 7.9 trillion and negative rating outlooks leave no cushion. Q2 profit leaned on cheap pre-Iran war naphtha and government aid, which have faded away. Lotte is likely to lose margin to Chinese coal-based olefin makers, whose costs run over a third lower. [Ask Bilby about this prediction](https://pulse.bilby.ai/?prompt=Lotte%20Chemical's%20basic-chemicals%20unit%20will%20post%20an%20operating%20loss%20this%20quarter.) ## Ask Bilby about it Carry the prediction into a question: what has changed since, who decides, and who is exposed. - [What has changed since it was made?](https://pulse.bilby.ai/?prompt=What%20has%20changed%20since%20Bilby%20predicted%20this%3F%20Lotte%20Chemical's%20basic-chemicals%20unit%20will%20post%20an%20operating%20loss%20this%20quarter.) - [Who decides whether it happens?](https://pulse.bilby.ai/?prompt=Who%20decides%20whether%20this%20happens%3F%20Lotte%20Chemical's%20basic-chemicals%20unit%20will%20post%20an%20operating%20loss%20this%20quarter.) - [Who gains and who loses if it does?](https://pulse.bilby.ai/?prompt=Who%20gains%20and%20who%20loses%20if%20this%20happens%3F%20Lotte%20Chemical's%20basic-chemicals%20unit%20will%20post%20an%20operating%20loss%20this%20quarter.) ## More from South Korea 27 predictions on South Korea so far, newest first. - 4 Nov 2026 · [Rhythm Pharmaceuticals is likely to exceed US$750 million in rare-obesity drug sales in 2027, more than double the annual sales pace implied by its third-quarter 2026 results.](https://bilby.ai/predictions/p/203/rhythm-pharmaceuticals-is-likely-to-exceed-us-750-million-in-rare-obesity-drug-s) · Unresolved - 27 Oct 2026 · [Washington’s South Korean advanced memory chipmaker anti-China restrictions will hit Samsung much harder than Beijing.](https://bilby.ai/predictions/p/188/washington-s-south-korean-advanced-memory-chipmaker-anti-china-restrictions-will) · Unresolved - 26 Oct 2026 · [South Korea’s steel market pushes back on China yet harder.](https://bilby.ai/predictions/p/187/south-korea-s-steel-market-pushes-back-on-china-yet-harder) · Unresolved [All 27 from South Korea](https://bilby.ai/predictions/log?tag=south-korea) · Marked true or false when each resolves ## See what we’re seeing next. New predictions in the Asia Daily Take, free every weekday, and in Bilby whenever you have a question. [Get the Asia Daily Take](https://bilby.ai/asia#asia-daily-take) · [Try Bilby](https://pulse.bilby.ai/sign-up)