Regionalisation will delink US/Asia prices - Hodges

14 November 2007 18:24  [Source: ICIS news]

ANTWERP (ICIS news)--Petrochemical markets' increasing regionalisation is leading to a delinkage of US and Asian commodity chemical prices, a senior industry consultant said on Wednesday.

“We’re going to see the growing regionalisation of markets again,” said Paul Hodges, chairman of consultants International e-Chem, at the 6th European Aromatics and Derivatives Conference.

"Freights are very expensive, and significant differences will start to appear between the regions."

The industry was suffering from a shortage of chemical shipping space and it was increasingly expensive for Asian businesses to import their feedstocks or export their end products, he said in response to questioning from the floor.

The 6th European Aromatics and Derivatives Conference, organised by ICIS and International e-Chem, is taking place on 14-15 November in Antwerp, Belgium.

By: Barbara Ortner
+44 20 8652 3214

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