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Asian Chemical Connections

China MEG Market Points To Risks Ahead

By John Richardson SOMETHING very disturbing is going on in China’s mono-ethylene glycol markets (MEG), which, we, think, reflects the following: Failure to read the economic tea leaves. A sharp contraction in credit growth threatens to leave 2014 GDP growth a lot lower than many chemicals companies have forecast. The possible use of MEG as […]

The Purified Terephthalic Acid Sweet Spot

By John Richardson WHEN is a recovery a sustainable recovery? This a key question for chemicals companies as they prepare their budgets for 2014. What has happened this year in both polyethylene (PE) and the polyester chain has surprised some people. China’s polyester demand was higher than expected in July and August, leading to a […]

China’s Polyester Industry And The New Big Picture

Source: ICIS supply and demand database   By John Richardson THE polyester chain in China is a good example of the dangers of assuming that the big macroeconomic picture will remain more or less unchanged. Large amounts of purified terepththalic acid (PTA) (see the above chart) and polyester capacity seems to have been added in […]

PTA Price Decline Reflects Realities

By John Richardson The end of the eight-week long bull-run in China’s purified terephthalic acid (PTA) pricing might well indicate a wider problem about to beset other petrochemicals: Reality undermining the positive sentiment of the early part of this year. “PTA prices surged by 10% from early November to early January, mainly led by a […]

Polyester Another Victim Of Hype

By John Richardson SEVERAL major petrochemical companies only have one scenario for China, which is that its economy will continue to grow at a rapid rate, the blog has been told by people working for these companies. Similarly, as fellow blogger Paul Hodges pointed out earlier this week, when the great synthetic fibre-chain investment boom was […]

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