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Asian Chemical Connections

US Set To Adopt A Golden Rule

By John Richardson ONE of the golden rules of petrochemicals is “always run hard if you have the feedstock advantage”. As a result, the US is said to have been a little frustrated by a series of operating problems that have constrained their average capacity utilisation to around 80% in 2012. “If they had been able to they would […]

European Firms Assess China Exit

By John Richardson CHINA’S rising labour costs and a worsening regulatory environment had resulted in almost a quarter of European firms to consider relocating their activities elsewhere, said a survey by the EU Chamber of Commerce and Roland Berger Strategy Consultants. Twenty-two percent of 557 respondents said they may move investment to other developing economies, […]

China’s Inflation Challenge

By John Richardson In our third post on the context behind last week’s steep fall in polyolefins prices,and the prospects for a recovery, we look at inflation – one of China’s numerous economic challenges…..I NFLATION remains a major threat in China, hence the government is unable to make the cuts in interest rates necessary to […]

Asian Polyolefin Prices Tumble

By John Richardson Asian polyethylene (PE) prices slumped by $90-130/tonne last week on the eurozone crisis, the fall in oil prices and the imminent arrival in China of large volumes of Iranian material, according to ICIS pricing. A further factor dragging down the market was the start-up, expected by end-May, of Qapco’s low-density polyethylene (LDPE) […]

The H2 Recovery Story

By John Richardson THE majority of chemicals analysts have yet to wake up and smell the coffee, according to an industry observer. “South Korean stocks have come off by 15-30% since their big recovery in January, but it is only the timing rather than the overall sentiment that has changed,” said the observer. “The theory […]

China Economic Optimism

By John Richardson ECONOMISTS think China’s growth has bottomed out, thanks to unexpectedly strong March bank lending. They also think that interest rates will stay low for a long time, even if rates cannot be cut because of the inflation problem.  New loans in March totalled Rmb1trn ($159bn), more than banking analysts had expected. This renewed […]

The CEO’s Dilemma

By John Richardson The blog has, in its naivety, for some time been perplexed over why certain chemicals company CEOs portray a relentlessly optimistic picture of developing-markets growth. This is despite all the evidence pointing to increasing uncertainties over how China, India, and other developing economies are going to progress over the next decade. Last […]

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