By Malini Hariharan More companies are reporting damages to facilities after last week’s earthquake and tsunami. Mitsubishi Chemical said in a statement that berths, roads and infrastructure around the plant area at its Kashima site have been damaged and delivery or shipment of cargo “would be next to impossible”. “Restoration of capabilities will take quite […]
Asian Chemical Connections
Pulled in all directions
By Malini Hariharan Asian polyolefin producers face a difficult time with markets being pulled in different directions. Feedstock costs have steadily moved up at a time when downstream demand and price direction remains uncertain. Political upheaval in Libya and Bahrain pushed WTI crude oil to over $94/bbl yesterday while Brent hit $107/bbl. Naphtha soared to […]
Weak demand haunts China PE markets
By John Richardson IS China’s polyethylene (PE) market going through a temporary lull or are we seeing a sea change in conditions that could spell problems for the rest of this year? This was the question, to paraphrase Hamlet, facing the global industry late last week as lacklustre post Chinese New Year (CNY) demand continued. […]
Petchem markets on a bull run
By Malini Hariharan The Chinese are back from their holidays and they are buying. This coupled with supply constraints and firm crude prices is fuelling a surge in petrochemical prices. Paraxylene (PX) prices hit a 2-year high this week on speculative activity and production problems at a couple of Chinese plants, reports ICIS news. Spot […]
Chinaplas: Optimism, consolidation, new plant start-ups and more
By Malini Hariharan Chinaplas has just concluded and my colleagues have filed some great reports from Shanghai. Worries about a margin squeeze in the second half of the year persist but polymer producers seem to be increasingly confident about long-term growth prospects. The chairman of the China Plastics Processing Industry Association (CPPIA) talked of the […]
A view from the West
By Malini Hariharan The Asian olefin and polyolefin markets have softened in recent weeks but the US market remains on a different track, as seen in these reports filed by my colleagues on ICIS news. Ethylene prices are still firm on tight supplies. Spot ethylene for March/April was at 61-63 cents/lb, up from 42.5-43.0 in […]
Optimism as China returns
By Malini Hariharan The China market appears to have started the year of the tiger on a strong note. We are not yet hearing a roar but at least it is not a whimper. Pic source: Xinhua A polyolefin market participant says that traders have started making enquiries after the Lunar New Year holidays. End-users […]
The Indian growth story – part 2
By Malini Hariharan A few weeks back I had written about robust demand growth figures emerging from the Indian polymer market. I will be posting some numbers over the next few days but ahead of that I would like to highlight what industry players have been saying on the major growth drivers and also developments […]
Post merger Braskem talks of global growth through acquisitions
By Malini Hariharan After overcoming legal objections, Braskem took the final step late last week to announce the merger of the petrochemical operations of Petrobras, Odebrecht and Quattor, to create not only Brazil’s largest petrochemical company but also America’s largest polymer producer. The plan now is to develop the company to become one of the […]
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