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Asian Chemical Connections

The End Of Growth

By John Richardson OUR e-book, Boom Gloom & The New Normal, is a set of ideas meant to challenge conventional wisdom. Some of our ideas will need to be adapted and discarded. But our essential point is that the New Normal represents a way of thinking as much as a set of ideas, because the world has […]

No More Of This…

By John Richardson THE big hope is that once China returns from its National Holidays (1-7 October), petrochemicals markets will enjoy a big and sustainable recovery. It is not going to happen. Throughout this year, the hope has been that the recovery is just around the corner. People have argued that deteriorating economic data has been […]

Managing European Volatility

By John Richardson THE blog was in Amsterdam this week for an ICIS training event involving delegates who were European chemicals and polymer buyers. They had one overriding question for us: “How on earth do we manage the extreme volatility in our raw-material costs?” The answer we gave was to not confuse oil-price driven temporary surges […]

China Politics Before Economics

By John Richardson CHINA’S manufacturing activity did, at least, stabilise in September after hitting a nine-month low in August, according to the latest preliminary HSBC manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI). The PMI improved to 47.8% in September compared with 47.6% in August. Elsewhere, as the chart above shows, Eurozone and US PMI indices declined. The […]

Dysfunctional Oil Markets

By John Richardson “HOW do a I tell my customers that polyethylene (PE) price rises are justified by more expensive naphtha, when the market is so weak?” asked an Asia-based sales and marketing executive with a major producer earlier this month. A second executive with another producer, who has responsibility for the China market, expressed […]

China PE Demand Down 3 Percent

 By John Richardson GROUND level economic conditions in China are still a lot weaker than headline GDP (gross domestic product) numbers suggest. For example, a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) sales and marketing executive said: “PVC demand growth is going to be in minus territory this year. Carbide-based producers are likely to continue to have to run […]

Global Polyethylene Margin Picture

By John Richardson ASIAN high-density polyethylene (HDPE) margins have improved in June and July compared with the rest of the year, according to the above chart from the ICIS Weekly PE Margin Report. But the overall year-to-date trend illustrates how the industry has lacked pricing power as a result of persistently weak Chinese demand. August […]

Dow: China GDP Growth 3-5 Percent

  By John Richardson DOW Chemical’s Andrew Liveris has changed his views on China as a result of an economic slowdown that seems to have taken many people by surprise. “China’s economy has continued to decelerate as European exports suffered,” said Liveris, as the company last week announced a 34 percent fall in profits year-on-year […]

A Call To Action

We are about to set out on a great journey as the world transitions to the New Normal. The reason for the journey is that the world economy has changed irrevocably as a result of the financial crisis and the demand changes created by the ageing of the Western BabyBoomers. There is no going back. […]

Chem Companies Face Funding Crisis

  By John Richardson A collapse in the price of oil would expose petrochemicals producers, buyers and traders who have built- up stocks. They built up inventories because oil was on the way up earlier this year. And they were also encouraged to stock-up because of more confidence over the Eurozone, relative to Q4 last […]

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