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Yantai Wanhua looks to jump to the top

By Malini Hariharan While looking at China it is easy to get distracted by the activities of the majors – Sinopec and PetroChina. But there is a strong second tier that is steadily becoming more visible. Yantai Wanhua, a major producer of isocynates, is an example. The blog recently heard from a source close to […]

China Polyolefins Growth Forecast To Slump

Follow us on Twitter By John Richardson CHINA’s polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) demand growth is set for a dramatic decline in 2010-12, according to the latest estimates from Shanghai-based commodities information service CBI (see table at the end of this blog post). This year was probably never going to be as good as 2009 […]

Follow Your ACC Blog On Twitter

  Source of picture: www.hongkiat.com/blog/twitter-wa…ue-bird/ Dear Reader You can now follow all our entries on the Asian Chemicals Connection Twitter and pick up valuable content from our Twitter community. Best Regards John Richardson and Malini Hariharan

Commodity Stockpiles A Risky Bet

  By John Richardson Inventories of copper, aluminium, lead and nickel have risen as prices for all these commodities have also surged, says this article in The Economist.   Source of graph: The Economists   Copper stocks total half a million tonnes in metals-exchanges warehouses in what HSBC analyst Andrew Keen describes as a market […]

Polyolefins: A view from the ground

By Malini Hariharan H2 is just two months away but one China-based market participant says that there is still a total lack of clarity on price direction for the rest of the year. Buying activity picked up last week but he is not confident that this can be sustained. And he is certainly not expecting […]

China Polyolefns: Trying To See Through The Data

  Source of picture: www.wrh.noaa.gov/hnx/newslet/sum…mber.htm   By John Richardson Hope springs eternal when it comes to trying to fathom the direction of the polyolefin market in China. One particular hope rests on March import numbers from China Customs, due to be released later this month. The data might just give a pointer to the extent […]

Surge in Saudi-US PE Exports Reported

Heading West,,Jeddah’s container port   Source of picture: http://ofwngayon.com/home/?p=257   By John Richardson SABIC has increased its exports of PE to the US in response to high pricing and what could be weaker demand in China, a source with a North American producer told the blog earlier this week. “I have heard of more linear-low […]

China: Playing the Devil’s Advocate

Jim Chanos gets it right more than 70% of the time (unlike Alan Greenspan)   Source of picture: New York Post   Somebody has to play the devil’s advocate, but having just finished reading Gillian Tett’s excellent Fool’s Gold about the financial crisis, this is about more than just trying to provoke a response; it’s […]

Will crude oil revive PE markets?

By Malini Hariharan Has the steady increase in crude oil prices last week prompted Chinese buyers to resume purchases? That is what a Shanghai-based distributor of Middle East product is hoping. And it is the only explanation that he can find for concluding a sale of nearly 10,000 tonnes of polyethylene (PE) yesterday. After weeks […]

China Polypropylene Market Tightens

By John Richardson Polypropylene (PP) appears to have become very tight in China over the last week as a result of a reduction in import availability and a resurgence in buying activity. “PP is incredibly tight right now because the supply from North America is no longer available for delivery to China,” said a Singapore-based […]

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