In the first half of 2026, China’s home decoration and building materials industry is experiencing a rare wave of cost pressure transmission.
Since mid-April, prices of products across the entire chain, from waterproofing to coatings, from cement to furniture, have been rising one after another, and almost no link is immune.
Oriental Yuhong, the leader in waterproof materials, was the first to issue a price adjustment letter. Since April 30, engineering waterproofing products have increased by 3% to 8%. This is the company’s third increase this year. Immediately afterwards, 3Trees Paint announced a second round of price increases, with some products increasing by up to 25%; global giant PPG also launched a price increase of up to 20% for its entire series in mid-April.
At the same time, cement factories in many places have collectively followed up, raising prices by dozens of yuan per ton in some areas. The Shunde Furniture Association calls on companies to reasonably pass on costs and not to lower quality in exchange for lower prices.
This price increase covers every aspect of decoration materials. Corporate profits are eroded by costs, consumer budgets are forced to increase, and the industry enters an unprecedented state of tension.
Waterproofing materials are the area where costs have risen most significantly.
Behind Dongfang Yuhong’s price adjustment letter in mid-April was a series of fierce raw material price increases: asphalt has risen to 4,400 yuan per ton, a year-on-year increase of more than 50%, acrylic emulsion has reached 7,500 yuan, and the cost of epoxy resin has remained high for months.
With revenue of approximately 27.6 billion yuan in 2025, the company’s net profit will be only 113 million yuan, and the net profit rate will fall to 0.4%, a ten-year low.
The pressure of rising raw material prices has almost eliminated profit margins, and companies have to raise prices to save themselves.
After entering 2026, Oriental Yuhong’s first-quarter performance has rebounded, with revenue reaching 7.19 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 20%, and non-net profit more than doubled, indicating that profitability is recovering.
However, material prices remain high, and the company continues to stabilize profits through price adjustments and expand its overseas presence, including acquiring Brazilian companies to expand the international market.
The tightening of industry production schedules has also intensified the price increase trend. In April, the national asphalt production schedule was only 1.527 million tons. Insufficient supply has kept the spot transaction price at around 4,400 yuan, and as high as 4,600 yuan in some areas.
In addition to engineering waterproofing, the company’s civil construction products such as caulking agents and backing adhesives also increased by 10%-20% in March, while suppliers of auxiliary materials such as tire base fabrics even raised prices twice in the short term. There is almost no buffer layer in the cost transmission of the entire chain.
Small and medium-sized enterprises have suffered more severe squeezes in this process, and brands without scale advantages face the risk of passive liquidation.
The price increase in the paint industry is equally alarming.
Sankeshu raised prices twice in a row on March 15 and April 17, with some exterior wall paints and latex paints increasing by 25%.
In less than two months, more than 100 paint companies followed suit, including Carpoly, Jotun, Hempel, Xiangjiang Paint, etc., and the entire industry entered the “second price increase” stage.
The prices of titanium dioxide, emulsions, auxiliaries and other auxiliary materials continue to rise, and corporate profits are severely squeezed.
Sankeshu’s revenue in the first quarter was 2.436 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 14%, with a net profit of 107 million yuan. Although performance rebounded, the company’s management made it clear that cost pressure was still increasing and that it would continue to adjust product prices according to market conditions.
When PPG announced the price increase on April 15, it mentioned that it may exceed 20% in some areas. The industry expects that global leaders such as Nippon Paint and Sherwin-Williams will also follow suit.
This means that the cost transmission of domestic coatings is no longer a local phenomenon, but a global synchronized adjustment.
It is worth noting that 3TREES has been on the list of the world’s top ten most valuable paint brands, becoming the only Chinese company shortlisted, with a brand value of US$924 million.
In the context of rising prices, this brand influence has instead enhanced the company’s pricing power and market competitiveness, becoming an important support for weathering the cost storm.
The cement industry is also under the pressure of high costs.
Since mid-March, cement plants in Northeast, East China, Southwest and other regions have issued price increase notices, ranging from ten yuan to one hundred yuan.
In April, some areas continued to increase by 5 to 20 yuan.
Due to the resumption of work on construction sites and the advancement of the “15th Five-Year Plan” projects, demand has shown a marginal recovery and prices have found a support point.
However, affected by the weather, demand in the south is still light, and there are differences in the implementation of price increases.
The current predicted average price of P.O42.5 bulk cement nationwide is about 299 yuan per ton, a slight increase from the previous month and a slight decrease from the same period last year.
Regional differences are obvious, with prices in remote areas such as Tibet being the highest, while prices in some areas of the southwest remain low.
Cement is in a destocking cycle, and dealers’ costs for purchasing goods are increasing. The industry predicts that as inventory is further digested, there may be one or two rounds of price increases in the future.
The start of infrastructure projects, especially railways and highways, will become an important driving force for stable price increases.
The cost pressure in the furniture industry is more direct.
The prices of sponges, wood, and hardware in the upper reaches of the Shunde furniture industry chain have increased significantly, and there is almost no way to escape manufacturing costs.
The Shunde Furniture Association issued a reminder in April, emphasizing that price adjustments caused by fluctuations in raw materials are normal phenomena, and reminded companies to adhere to the bottom line of quality and not to use inferior boards or cut corners due to low-price competition.
Shunde Lecong Furniture City is one of the largest furniture markets in the country. The scale of the pan-home furnishing industry has reached nearly one trillion yuan, and there are about 3,400 dealers.
The advantage of a large-scale market can buffer cost fluctuations in the short term, but in the long run, continued price increases will squeeze profits and force companies to adjust their business strategies.
Real estate demand has not yet fully recovered, and exports and differentiation have become new options for some companies.
The National Building Materials and Home Furnishing Prosperity Index shows that sales in March this year increased month-on-month, but still declined year-on-year. Existing housing renovation and improvement consumption have become supporting forces. High-end, green, and smart products have grown against the trend, providing a slow recovery path for the industry.
The essence of this round of price increases is a cost-driven adjustment triggered by rising international crude oil prices and geopolitical conflicts.
The rise in crude oil directly drives the surge in chemical raw materials such as asphalt, and the tightening of supply further amplifies the transmission effect.
Domestic leading companies have taken the lead in raising prices and stabilizing cash flow and capacity utilization by virtue of their scale and channel advantages; small and medium-sized enterprises, unable to pass on costs, have experienced rapid decline in profit margins, and industry concentration may continue to increase.
The profits of leading companies such as Oriental Yuhong have shown signs of recovery in 2026, indicating that through price increases and diversified layout, companies are passing through the darkest stage.
But in a high-cost cycle, net profit margins remain low.
The industry generally realizes that price increases alone cannot sustain the industry in the long term, and a real breakthrough must be achieved through green technology innovation and international market expansion.
The currently hotly discussed green waterproofing membranes, low-VOC environmentally friendly coatings, high-performance cement, etc. may all become growth points in the future.
What consumers are facing is a direct increase in decoration budgets.
Waterproofing products have increased by about 5% on average, coatings have increased by 15% to 25%, and furniture prices have increased by 10% on average. The cumulative increase in decoration costs may range from several thousand to tens of thousands of yuan more than last year.
People with decoration plans should pay attention to the price adjustment window from late April to early May. The price increases of some products have not yet been fully implemented. Purchasing in advance or signing a price guarantee agreement can reduce the pressure.
Home decoration companies are also delaying the impact of price increases through material inventory and channel optimization, but it is difficult to avoid the eventual transmission to the retail end.
Industry observers generally believe that this wave of price increases is not a simple price adjustment, but the beginning of cyclical restructuring.
It forces companies to return to quality and brand competition, which is more like a “survival self-rescue” for the entire industry.
In the context of long-term fluctuations in energy and raw materials, companies with R&D capabilities will gain greater pricing power, while brands that rely on low-cost production may be eliminated.
At the same time, the price increase also reminds consumers to pay attention to the environmental protection and durability of products. They no longer only look at “cheapness” but also “worthiness”.
The upgrading direction of the building materials industry is becoming clear, and green and low-carbon, high-performance materials, and smart home technology will become the main theme of the next stage.
As these trends deepen, the current price pressure may just be a shock during the transition period, and real stability will come from the quality improvement of the industry itself.
This top-down wave of price increases has changed the operating logic of the building materials industry.
On the one hand, it allows companies to face the true structure of costs and profits; on the other hand, it drives the market to adjust toward higher quality and more transparency.
In the next few months, with the fluctuation of international oil prices and the implementation of domestic stabilizing growth policies, prices may gradually stabilize, but the competitive landscape of the industry has been reshaped.
For consumers, decoration at this stage may be more expensive, but they also have the opportunity to buy better quality and more environmentally friendly products.
For enterprises, this is a pain that must be experienced. Whether they can survive the cycle does not depend on price, but on whether they have continuous innovation and long-term trust.
Furniture, building materials, coatings, waterproofing, cement, these seemingly ordinary industry links are undergoing a profound change together.
The price increase is just a symptom, the real turning point is on the way.
