Source: Petroleum Institute of Thailand By John Richardson IT can be argued that Thailand is in a better state than fellow ASEAN members Indonesia and Malaysia. Government spending in Thailand relative to GDP is said to be lower than in both Indonesia and Malaysia. Compared with Malaysia, Thailand also has a larger working-age population, […]
Asian Chemical Connections
Malaysia: Taking The Long View
Source: Malaysia Petrochemicals Association By John Richardson THE problems in Malaysia have been evident for a long time. But thanks to the irresponsible and failed actions of the US Fed, the flow of funds into the Southeast country had led to a papering-over of the cracks in its economic growth model. The same, as […]
Indonesia: Sweat It Out!
Jakarta at night (source of picture: Wikimedia) By John Richardson THE blog first visited Indonesia in October 1997, shortly after the onset of the Asian Financial Crisis, and was amazed to think that only a few months earlier, the media was talking of the inevitable rise of Indonesia’s middle class, which was said to […]
China Market Intelligence Still Contradicts PE Demand Rise
By John Richardson The debate continues as to exactly why polyethylene (PE) apparent demand (domestic production plus imports) in China rose by 13% in January-June of this year compared with the same period in 2011. Why the anxiety? Because most of the industry people that the blog speaks are still finding it difficult to match […]
Holding India’s Leaders To Account
Source: ICIS Consulting By John Richardson It has now become widely recognised that India is in serious trouble. The consensus has shifted over the […]
China Polyethylene Scepticism
By John Richardson THE blog is very busy in Singapore this week and so apologies for the reduced service today. In short, and we will provide more details next week, we have held meetings with polyethylene (PE) traders and producers and they tell us: 1.) Activity remains very weak with the majority of traders and […]
China’s Healthcare Crisis
Source of picture: The BBC By John Richardson “For Hongxia, 39, life is pretty tough (see the above picture),” writes Martin Patience of the BBC in this excellent story in China’s health crisis. “Her husband, Zhang Yansheng, 41, is in the room next door watching TV. He is suffering from a brain tumour and […]
Australia and The US: History Could Repeat Itself
By John Richardson A PERTH-based businessman who made a very basic piece equipment for the Australian mining industry (details disguised for confidentiality reasons) incurred total production costs of just Aus$6 for each item he produced as a against a sale price of Aus$60 a time. Yes, this is not printing mistake – Aus$60! Quite […]
Two Chinas With No Clear Outcome
By John Richardson THERE are at least two Chinas out there right now, one where rebalancing seems to be working and another where the impact of economic restructuring looks as if it might upset the whole apple cart. “I think the new government has really bitten the bullet. The more you look into it, the […]
Cheaper Credit Drives Inventory Building
By John Richardson A DRAMATIC dip in the cost of short-term financing seems to further explain why China’s manufacturers have ramped-up their inventories of raw materials. When raw-material prices, including those of petrochemicals, start to rise (see the example of polyethylene above), and credit is cheaper, the instinctive response is to stock-up ahead of […]
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