By John Richardson CHINA’S 15.3 percent increase in exports in May, far greater than most analysts had expected, is being interpreted as a sign of the country’s enduring economic strength. This is certainly good news for China amidst all the other negative news. But to what extent is it good news for the US, the […]
Asian Chemical Connections
China’s Demographic Crisis
Chinese govt poster promoting the one-child policy By John Richardson IF all you can remember is strong emerging markets growth, then it is easy to be misled into only building into your scenarios the notion that China and India are merely pausing for economic breath. Conventional wisdom remains that this is, decidedly, the […]
Not “Business As Usual”
By John Richardson THE notion that Asian polyethylene (PE) markets would soon bottom out, which was widely expressed at the Asia Petrochemical Industry Conference (APIC) last month, seems to have been discredited. There was a slight recovery for the week ending 1 June, when prices had crept up by $10-20/tonne on improved confidence amongst […]
China Rate Cut
By John Richardson CHINA surprised economists and markets with a 25 basis point cut in benchmark lending rates on Thursday. This was the first rate cut since the economic crisis of 2008. The cut was seen as indicating that the economy is slowing down faster than had been previously thought. Industrial production for May, due […]
How Green Is Gas?
By John Richardson THE blog has been attending the 25th World Gas Conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, this week where one of the themes repeated on numerous occasions has been the wonderful environment benefits of natural gas. Poor old coal and crude-oil have received short shrift as presentation after presentation has stressed how gas is […]
More Of The Same Won’t Work
By John Richardson MORE of the same won’t solve China’s problems. “Economists worry that an influx of new cash (as part of China’s new economic stimulus package) will exacerbate some of the market distortions in areas that are already heavily state-dominated,” wrote the Financial Times, in an article on Tuesday. The steel sector is an […]
Fibre Intermediates In Panic
By John Richardson A SENSE of panic has gripped the fibre intermediates chain as a result of falling crude oil prices, an industry observer told the blog. “Nobody knows where the bottom of the market will be, which, to me, feels a great deal like the crisis in late 2008,” he said, “Prices are in […]
A Call To Action
We are about to set out on a great journey as the world transitions to the New Normal. The reason for the journey is that the world economy has changed irrevocably as a result of the financial crisis and the demand changes created by the ageing of the Western BabyBoomers. There is no going back. […]
Chem Companies Face Funding Crisis
By John Richardson A collapse in the price of oil would expose petrochemicals producers, buyers and traders who have built- up stocks. They built up inventories because oil was on the way up earlier this year. And they were also encouraged to stock-up because of more confidence over the Eurozone, relative to Q4 last […]
BASF Highlights Changes In Growth
Martin Brudermüller Source of picture: BASF By John Richardson “THE struggle over China’s future direction seems to be harder fought than we had imagined,” said BASF vice chairman Martin Brudermüller last Thursday, in a German newspaper interview. “There are very intensive discussions being held in China about the direction the country should take. […]
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