By John Richardson SPENDING time with your customers is always a good idea, but doing so seems to have become even more important during a very difficult year for China’s polyolefins business. The reason is a split between the fortunes of the top end of the business – the more differentiated grades of polyethylene (PE) […]
Asian Chemical Connections
More trouble for paraxylene ACP
By Malini Hariharan In yesterday’s post the blog made a reference to the difficulty in settling the October Asian contract price (ACP) for paraxylene (PX). Wide differences in price expectations have held up negotiations with buyers rejecting producers’ initial efforts to implement a steep $105-145/tonne hike in October contracts to $1,760-$1,800/tonne cfr Asia. Buyers, citing […]
Why China PE Demand Will Not Grow In 2011
By John Richardson THE blog hears that some industry observers are persisting with the Supercycle theory for petrochemicals based on “decoupling” – i.e. emerging markets will compensate for any new recessions in the West. We find this baffling as evidence points to a lost year of growth in China. The prospects for next year seem […]
Cosy Platitudes Are Not Enough
By John Richardson DO you trust your government to always get it right? The answer in the case of the West is “of course not”, but in China’s case the publicly-expressed assumption still holds that the economy is being effectively managed. CEOs of chemicals and polymer companies might find it politically challenging to openly say […]
China Latest Credit Tightening Blow To Chemicals
By John Richardson CHINA’S decision to temporarily halt lending by some banks – which was announced yesterday – as it attempts to further cool the economy will likely have a significant effect on chemicals demand and pricing. This follows last week’s decision to raise bank reserve requirements and two increases in the inter-bank lending rate […]
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