By John Richardson THE ten most polluted cities in the world are all in Northern India. It is therefore hardly surprising that a Lancet study found that pollution killed 1.24m Indians in 2017 — half of them younger than 70. This lowered the country’s average life expectancy by 1.7 years. These were just some of […]
Asian Chemical Connections
Latest global chemicals production data indicate recession likely very close
By John Richardson ONE OF THE useful things about chemicals industry data is that they are an early indicator of macroeconomic trends because chemicals are of course the raw materials for so many finished goods. If demand for chemicals rises this serves as an early indicator of stronger sales of TVs, smartphones, autos, computers and […]
US Trade Agenda Threatens 49% Of US Polyethylene Exports
By John Richardson WHICH President Trump will end up setting the final direction of policy? Will it be the President Trump who spoke off-script at a campaign-style rally in Phoenix, Arizona, this week or the President who a day later addressed military veterans in Reno, Nevada, in much more measured tones? Or will the ultimate […]
Global Chemicals Operating Rates Lowest Since 1987
By John Richardson SOMETIMES one single chart is worth many thousands of words, which is the case with the chart. Hence today’s brief post as the chart tells you a great deal of what you need to know: Based on American Chemistry Council data, and borrowed from the latest PH report, it shows that average global chemicals […]
Polyethylene: Seeing The Wood Along With The Trees
By John Richardson THE Asian polyethylene (PE) business might be tempted to continue to think, “Crisis? What crisis?” (bear with me. When we have dived down into the details, the above chart will make sense to you). Integrated naphtha-based high-density PE (HDPE) margins in Northeast Asia, for instance, still averaged $553/tonne for 2015 up until […]
New Silk Road Part 2: How China Will Win
Here is the second part of my thinking on what China’s New Silk Road means for the global chemicals industry. Part One appeared last Thursday. By John Richardson PER capital GDP in Yunnan province in China’s southwest was just Yuan 25,083 ($4,050) in 2014, which made it the 29th poorest of the country’s 31 […]
BBC: “How China Fooled The World”
By John Richardson FOR the last three years, the blog has been asking people to challenge the consensus view of China. We have often been accused of being pessimistic for the sake of pessimism. This misses the point. Our point has always been that every chemicals company – our customers – need to build in […]
3D Printing Likely To Change Just About Everything
By John Richardson 3D printing will very probably force manufacturers, including those who make chemicals and polymers, to build entirely new business models. Here is why: The young in Western societies will be poorer because of less aggregate demand as a result of the retirement of the Babyboomers. They will need to save a lot […]
China GDP Slowdown No Surprise
By John Richardson ALL but two analysts out of a Bloomberg survey of 41 over-estimated China’s first-quarter GDP growth. Monday’s announcement of the 7.7% increase – pushing China in to the longest streak of expansion below 8% for 20 years – understandably, therefore, led to numerous downgrades in full-year 2013 growth forecasts. For example: *Louis […]
Innovation: No More Time Left To Lose
Source of picture: http://whyfiles.org/ By John Richardson MY colleague Nigel Davis has written an excellent Insight article which highlights how some chemicals companies are seeking to respond to changing patterns. As we have discussed before, Bayer Material Science is adapting its portfolio of products in response to the megatrends – demographics, energy conservation, […]