HZ info,In mid-to-late March, China's waterproofing industry was hit by a second wave of price increases. Top 4 leading companies—Oriental Yuhong, BNBM, Keshun and 3Trees—issued their second round of price adjustment notices within just half a month after the first round. 

This concentrated wave of price hikes represents not only the pass-through effect of persistently high upstream raw material costs, but also serves as a critical opportunity for the waterproofing industry to break away from low-price competition and reshape market dynamics, affecting the development pace of downstream construction and infrastructure industries.

The price hike wave began in early March. At the beginning of March, Oriental Yuhong, BNBM, and Keshun took the lead in announcing the first round of price adjustments, which were implemented around March 15, with increases generally ranging from 5% to 10%. 

From March 19 to 23, the four leading companies once again issued intensive second-round price adjustment notices. Oriental Yuhong announced in its price adjustment letter for engineering waterproofing materials that starting March 31, engineering waterproofing product prices would increase by 8%–12% on top of existing prices; Keshun specified that starting March 31, engineering waterproofing product prices would be further raised by 10%–12% on top of previous adjustments; BNBM and 3Trees would implement increases of 5%–10% and 5%–12% respectively starting April 1. 

According to the notices, all companies explicitly stated that after the first round of adjustments, the rise in raw material costs had far exceeded the tolerance of their pricing systems, and to ensure product quality and stable supply, they had no choice but to raise prices again. Following closely, companies such as Shenyu, Donglian Tianyu, and Changsha Dayu also issued price adjustment letters with increases ranging from 5% to 15%, forming an industry-wide linkage from leading to mid-tier enterprises.

The most direct cause of this price adjustment wave is the cost shock brought by persistently high international crude oil prices. Since the beginning of the year, affected by geopolitical conflicts in the Middle East, international oil prices once broke through $100/barrel; asphalt, a core raw material for waterproofing membranes, has seen price increases exceeding 35%; chemical raw materials such as acrylic emulsions and MDI have also surged simultaneously. 

Some companies' price adjustment letters bluntly stated that "certain raw materials have experienced supply disruptions." Raw material costs account for 70% to 80% of total production costs in the waterproofing industry. When cost increases far exceed internal absorption capacity, price increases become inevitable. Notably, this industry-wide collective price adjustment also reflects a rational consensus among enterprises to "combat involution." In this round, leading companies took the initiative to raise prices multiple times and publicly, explicitly citing "ensuring product quality" as the primary reason for the adjustments. This essentially leverages cost pressure to break the low-price stalemate, proactively restoring industry profit floors and pushing the pricing system back to normal tracks.

The pain brought by surging raw materials is becoming a catalyst for industry differentiation. On one hand, the pricing mechanism itself tests companies' supply chain bargaining power and customer relationship management capabilities. Leading companies, with their brand advantages and economies of scale, can more smoothly pass cost pressure downstream, while a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises, with weak bargaining power in price negotiations, are accelerating their exit. Since March 2026, the operating rate of small and medium-sized enterprises in China's waterproofing industry has dropped to below 40%, with hundreds of small enterprises in core production areas such as East China and South China shutting down. 

On the other hand, changes in demand structure are reinforcing this trend. As the real estate new construction market contracts, infrastructure, urban renewal, and renovation and refurbishment have become the main demand drivers. These projects have higher requirements for waterproofing material quality, durability, and supply chain stability, where leading companies' comprehensive advantages become prominent. It can be said that this round of cost-driven price increases is objectively accelerating the "elimination of inferior currency," and industry concentration is welcoming a new round of leap-forward growth.

Examining the deeper impact of this price hike wave, it is not difficult to discover that its significance extends far beyond a simple cost pass-through. When leading companies no longer use low prices as a competitive tool, but instead jointly restore prices to safeguard R&D investment and quality floors, the entire industry gains the foundation to shift from "price wars" to "value wars." From the recent strategic directions of various companies, Oriental Yuhong is focusing on mortar materials and overseas markets, while BNBM, Keshun, and 3Trees are opening new growth curves in municipal infrastructure and industrial construction. Innovation and differentiation are gradually replacing low-price competition as the new focal point of competition.

In this transformation process, rational responses from all parties in the industry chain are particularly critical. Waterproofing companies need to increase R&D investment, enhance product added value to reduce dependence on raw materials, and at the same time communicate fully with downstream customers to reasonably pass on cost pressure. Downstream construction parties and general contractors should establish flexible pricing clauses for raw material price fluctuations, shifting focus from "price per square meter" to emphasizing "whole-life-cycle waterproofing quality." Distributors need to operate with integrity, avoid price gouging, and jointly maintain industry order.