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No, I can’t do this Source of picture: perthperth.com/surfing/bodysurfing Dear Reader, Off to Australia for a week’s leave so no more entries and so will post again from 31 August. Fair Dinkum
Archive | August, 2009
How do Asian cracker operators compete?
Source of Picture: www.autospies.com Not an easy answer and not one much suited to a few paragraphs of blogging. But here’s one thought as the competitive environment becomes a great deal more difficult due to new Middle East capacity and the potential for China to move towards self-sufficiency in polyethylene and polypropylene: Have a chat [...]
The Philippines: Left With the Crumbs
“Here’s your entire allocation for this month” Source of Picture: Adammakwright.wordpress In the words of a plastics converter from the Philippines: “Markets are so tight at the moment that we are left to pick up the crumbs. Suppliers are concentrating almost entirely on China.” The converters have been waiting for so long for the great [...]
Even China Polyester Rates Rise
Source of Picture: ChinaMonthlyReview.Org Polyester operating rates in China have started to rise on anticipation that the global economic recovery has arrived, according to Leonard DeGuzman, chemicals consultant with DeWitt & Co. Is this another example of a dangerous price bubble or further proof that we are really emerging from the woods? “The impact of [...]
What I Want To Know in H2 – Part Two
Garbage out, garbage in Source of Picture: The Daily Telegraph Here goes for the second part of this series. Is there anybody out there who can help? How will the ongoing availability of recycled material affect the pricing power of virgin resins? (We have the data to show that imports of scrap polyethylene (PE) and [...]
Excessive Confidence A Risk
Confidence along all the chemicals value chains is always a key issue because of the ability to aggressively manage inventories, according to the London-based chemicals analyst Paul Satchell. So there’s the ever-present risk of sudden and very disruptive de-stocking. The longer the current rallies in commodity prices and stock markets continue, the greater might be [...]
Reports of the death of US PP exaggerated
“Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated,” Mark Twain once famously said after his obituary was published before he had died. Similarly, the US polypropylene (PP) industry had been virtually written off late last year after a calamitous collapse in pricing resulted in inventory losses totalling a staggering $700m in November alone. But the day [...]
PTA futures growing in influence?
Source of picture: 1st-commoditytrading.us It’s only one comment from one consultant, but this is what he said today about the growing role of the Zhenghou Commodity Exchange‘s purified terephthalic acid (PTA) futures contract. “PTA futures have been exerting a huge impact on spot pricing starting 2H July. “We haven’t seen any increase in physical demand [...]
Building A Society With A Soul
What would would the great man have thought? Source of picture: Newham Council, the UK Four of the things my dear late father taught me were: *Never vote for the British Conservative Party *Never cross a picket line *Always pursue your dreams *Keep believing in the common good of humanity in the face of all [...]
Can what made the US sick make China well?
It seems ironic that in the crazy scramble to protect itself from the consequences of the US collapse of the US debt-growth model, China has headed down the same path. As my fellow blogger Paul Hodges pointed out last Friday, official concerns over the bubbles in equity and property markets are increasing. Zhang Jianguo, president [...]