By John Richardson THE latest Northeast Asian high-density polyethylene (HDPE) chart from ICIS (see above) hardly suggests a tremendous increase in profitability, despite the improvement in sales volumes and sentiment in China that we first highlighted in December, and provided more details on last week. At least the Northeast Asian producers have moved into slightly positive territory, though, […]
Asian Chemical Connections
Beijing Smog Highlights Reform Agenda
Picture: HAP/Quirky China News/Rex Features By John Richardson THE toxic smog that enveloped Beijing over the weekend is another example of why China’s new leaders simply have to change the economic growth model. At its worst point on Saturday night, the level of harmful particulates in the air reached as much as 36 times […]
The Attention Span Of Commodity Markets
By John Richardson PARTICIPANTS in commodity and financial markets sometimes appear to have very short attention spans. But they are merely doing their jobs by seeking to stretch out rallies as long as possible through claiming everything that was being discussed a few months, weeks or even days ago is suddenly invalid. (see the above […]
1.5m tonnes Of New Asian PE Supply In 2013
By John Richardson SOME 1.5m tonnes of new polyethylene (PE) supply will arrive in the Asian market during 2013 at a time of very uncertain and fragile demand, a source with a global producer has told the blog. A large amount of new polypropylene (PP) supply is also expected to enter the market. “Even if there […]
A Chance To Win £100
By John Richardson SICK and tired of wracking your brains trying to figure out where the China polyolefins market is going? Are you weary of the Eurozone debt crisis and the threat that US Congress will fail to raise the debt ceiling? Then take a break from hardscrabble petrochemicals markets to take part in our ICIS Holiday […]
NATPET Warns On Saudi Gas Increase
By John Richardson SAUDI ARABIA’S National Petrochemical Industrial Co (NATPET) has gone public over an issue that has worried Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) petrochemical producers for several years now: The erosion of the GCC’s competitive advantage over the US. “There has been a migration of investment to the US that is a very clear threat […]
US Threat To Asian Polyolefins
So far so good…lack of arbitrage in 2012 By John Richardson Despite a strong recovery in China’s polyethylene (PE) prices and sales over the last month-and-a-half, producers are viewing the coming year with great trepidation. One of the wild cards is how the US producers behave in 2013, as we also discussed in November. Faced […]
China Polyolefins Recovery Continues…..
…..For Now By John Richardson RELATIVE to most of 2012 – when China’s polyolefins market was in dire straits – November, December and early January have been excellent for traders who took the right positions. At least one producer has also reporting a strong recovery in sales. “I thought there would be a mini-rebound […]
“You Can’t Turn Back The Demographic Tide”
By John Richardson Our argument ument that demographics drive demand is gaining greater traction. Demographic challenges apply both to developed markets, where populations are rapidly ageing, and to emerging markets such as China, which confronts ithe consequences of its disastrous one-child policy. The slide above shows rising life expectancy – just one of the […]
Beneath the China PMI Hype
By John Richardson A LOT of stock market excitement, and perhaps a recovery in petrochemicals prices (more next week when everyone is back in action), has greeted the release of China’s purchasing managers’ indices for December. The official PMI held steady at 50.6%, while the final HSBC PMI came in at 51.5%, the highest reading in […]
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