By John Richardson ENVIRONMENTAL concerns over wasting the earth’s resources are one factor behind the rise of Uber and other ride-hailing services as a replacement for car ownership in cities. But in heavily congested cities, large several-tonne lumps of metal and plastic still spend a lot of time in traffic jams, even with clever routing […]
Asian Chemical Connections
China Urbanisation Policies Threaten 7m Tonnes Of PE Consumption
By John Richardson CONTINUED urbanisation in China, it is often said by petrochemicals and polymer company CEOs, guarantees further strong demand growth for their products. But just because a statement is repeated on many occasions by very senior people during investor conference calls and at big public conferences doesn’t automatically make it true. This is […]
Petrochemicals Markets Point To Synchronised Global Downturn
By John Richardson IF you repeat something enough times, such as the “emperor is wearing clothes”, lots of people begin to believe it. So is the case with the widespread idea that we are in the midst of an unshakeable synchronised global economic recovery. The problem with these kind of economic theories is that as […]
China Doubles Down On Pollution Clean-up: Consequences For Chemicals
By John Richardson ECONOMIC GROWTH for the sake of economic growth was for so many years the No1 priority in China. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that there is a legacy of major environmental problems. These include some 1.6m premature deaths a year from air pollution alone, according to an independent study in 2015. A […]
China Shadow Lending Down By 70% With Deleveraging To Continue
By John Richardson The ABOVE CHART shows that lending via China’s shadow banking system fell by no less than 70% in January-February 2018 over the same period last year. This follows the 90% year-on-year fall in January 2018. The latest data underline the key conclusion that lending via the highly speculative shadow lending system is […]
China Accelerates Pollution Campaign In 2018: Implications For Chemicals
By John Richardson ON THE surface of things there will be no let up when China’s winter air pollution campaign ends in March, as I predicted would be the case. China is drawing up plans for tougher curbs on smog levels during the two years until 2020, with the details due to be released in […]
Asian Naphtha-PE Spreads Collapse By 80% As 2018 Challenges Build
By John Richardson ASIAN naphtha-to-polyethylene (PE) spreads collapsed by 80% in the first week of January compared with December last year because of the failure to pass on the rise in naphtha feedstock costs resulting from higher oil prices. In an update of the chart I’ve been running since late last year, what you see […]
China’s Polypropylene Market: The Right Questions You Simply Must Ask
By John Richardson On the surface, the above chart represents very good news for exporters of polypropylene (PP) to China. As you can see, our base case sees import volumes creeping up from around 3.9m tonnes in 2018 to 4.2m tonnes in 2025. But this chart should be merely a starting point for a much […]
China Accelerates Chemicals Plant Relocations As Supply Disruptions Build
By John Richardson THE RELOCATION of all chemicals plants classified as producing toxic products from China’s big towns and cities to chemicals-industry parks is being speeded-up. Relocation work first began in 2014. But earlier this month, a new directive from the State Council stipulated that: All of the country’s small- to mid-sized chemicals plants that […]
PetroChina and Sinopec Will Never Be The Same Again
By John Richardson CHINA’S two giant state-owned oil, gas, refining and petrochemicals companies have enjoyed many fantastic years during which they could do just about what they liked, according to an increasing number of critics. “You can’t control them,” an official from China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) is quoting as saying in the […]