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Asian Chemical Connections

Central Banks Chase The Inflation Illusion

By John Richardson IT was Milton Friedman who famously said “inflation is always and everywhere a monetary problem”. This widely accepted economic wisdom is based on the following premise: Excessive expansion of the money supply is inherently inflationary. And so one can still argue that all that central banks have to do is to keep […]

Central Bankers Making Global Economy Worse

By John Richardson A NEW research note from our colleagues at International eChem discusses how central bankers have pledged to do “whatever it takes” to achieve a sustainable economic recovery. Click here for a full copy – Research-Note-24Sept12.pdf. Their well-meaning efforts have failed, and are instead likely to do the exact reverse of what is […]

Oil Prices And Demand Destruction

By John Richardson THE danger that high oil prices pose to the global economy, and therefore, of course, petrochemicals demand, has been highlighted by a new report from HSBC. It makes the point that quantitative easing, which has led to investors fleeing a weaker dollar into commodities, is a major contributory factor behind the rally […]

September Will Be A Cruel Month

By John Richardson SEPTEMBER is going to be a cruel month when the West returns from the summer holiday period and the extent of damage to chemicals and polymer demand becomes more apparent. In Asia, temporary supply constraints in polyolefins, paraxylene (PX) and styrene monomer (SM) have disguised the damage. These constraints will at some point ease, leading […]

India polymers slide once again

By Malini Hariharan The messenger’s prediction has turned out to be correct. Indian polymer producers have been forced to reduce domestic prices to match levels seen in the wider Asian market. The week started with a downward revision to polypropylene (PP) prices followed by cuts in prices of low density polyethylene (LDPE), linear low density […]

Power shortages strike China

By Malini Hariharan The problems for Chinese manufacturers are multiplying. Besides having to worry about rising input costs, inflationary pressures and tightening of credit, companies now have to contend with unexpected power cuts. This is usually the low season for power consumption in the country but supply to industrial units is being rationed in some […]

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