Eastman CFO talks Middle East conflict, methanolysis facility results

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Eastman Chemical Co. Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Willie McLain addressed attendees at the J.P. Morgan Industrial Conference Wednesday morning. The event was held in Washington, D.C., with a webcast link shared on Eastman's "Investors" page. McLain talked about how the first quarter of 2026 has seen winter storms, Supreme Court rulings on trade and conflict in the Middle East. He said "Eastman is well positioned" and "financially sound" while dealing with these external factors. "We're sitting here in the middle of an escalating impacts in the Middle East, and just three weeks into it," McLain said. "I think that presents opportunities in our intermediates business that's potentially materially different than what we had thought at the beginning of the year." He said while only time can reveal how international conflict could affect customer demand, Eastman will have a clearer picture to share on its impact at the conclusion of the first quarter. "Our business teams right now are focused on what are the appropriate price increases for the cost to serve," McLain said. "Also, as we think about over 75% of our asset base basically being here domestically and being advantaged from a cost curve, not only in our intermediates, but how that flows through to our specialty businesses, additive products and advanced materials." Methanolysis facility When asked about Eastman's methanolysis technology, McLain said its Kingsport facility is "meeting its technical performance expectations" and the company is finding ways to grow and expand those capabilities. "We're taking this time in this environment to set the plan for the future with an asset light model, as we look at mixed plastic processing plants in the mechanical space that we can look at the leveraging as well as existing polymer capacity," he said, "so that we can actually have a second facility that is at lower capital than what we had planned for our Longview Texas facility with the [U.S. Department of Energy]." He said Eastman is responsive to the organic and macro demand environments, as well as geopolitical trade, which has paced the affordability and transition of the methanolysis product. "As you think about the political side of this, people do not want plastic and the waste stream, right? That conviction is still not there," McLain said. "The great thing that we're seeing actually, is in [consumer packaged goods], we're seeing an acceleration and pull forward of contracts that we have to supply those because mechanical recycling wasn't meeting the needs. So as we see the circular solution for the packaging model, we see that case still being there." McLain said Eastman's proposed molecular recycling plant in France is "still in discussions" as the company evaluates how to best move forward with the project. "At this point, the French are supporting the path forward," he said. "We are there, and we can serve that market and that demand, but ultimately, we also said we were going to be disciplined, and we can't move forward without regulation and the structure to be supportive and conducive to recycling and sustainable investments that drive strong economic returns." To view the full webcast, visit jpmorgan.metameetings.net/events/industrials26/sessions/318348-eastman-chemical-co/webcast/public.