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Asian Chemical Connections

China Exports, Rebalancing Scenarios

Source of chart: Morgan Stanley   By John Richardson CHINA might soon raise export tax rebates, as it did during the 2008-2009 global economic crisis. Some chemicals and polymers exporters to China would welcome the increase in export tax rebates (this would make re-exports of finished goods from China more competitive). But on this occasion, […]

China Stockpiles Mount

Source: New York Times   By John Richardson INVENTORIES of finished goods are mounting in factories across China as manufacturers continue to run hard, according to this New York Times article – perhaps in the hope that in 3-6 months time, everything will be alright again. “My supplier’s inventory is huge because he cannot cut […]

“The Worse Things Get…..”

  Chart sourced from: http://www.financialsense.com/   By John Richardson “THE worse things get the better they are,” continues to be the mantra in financial and commodity markets these days. For example, China’s inflation slowed to 1.8 percent in July compared with 2.2 percent in June. This is likely to spur expectations of more economic stimulus. The […]

No Relief For China SMEs

By John Richardson THE consensus view is that China’s economy bottomed out in H1 and will see a recovery in GDP growth during the second half. Much hope has been attached to more government stimulus delivering a short-term boost to growth, even if there are concerns over the long-term damage that further investment-driven GDP could cause. […]

China Politics

In the last of our series of blog posts on some of the major challenges facing China’s economy over the next 12-18 months, we look at politics.     By John Richardson THE outcome of the battle over China’s economic direction is, of course, of crucial importance to the world economy. It would be comforting […]

China’s VUCA Moment

  Ben Bernanke. Source of picture: Wikipedia   By John Richardson OUR next three blog posts will examine some of the threats to a recovery in China’s chemicals and polymer demand growth over the next 12-18 months. We will look at: *Debt. Is China already confronting a Ben Bernanke moment? (In November 2007, the Fed […]

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 […]

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) […]

China’s March Inflation

By John Richardson THE importance of reliable market intelligence on China was further emphasised on Monday with the release of the March inflation data. Last week a sales and marketing executive with a polyolefins producer told us: “”Although the overall inflation rate has fallen to 3.2 percent (the February number), this is very misleading as it […]

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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