Home Blogs Asian Chemical Connections

Asian Chemical Connections

China’s “Overwhelming” Overcapacity

By John Richardson A HOPE being expressed by chemicals and polymer traders and producers the blog has spoken to this week is that the surge in lending in China during the first quarter will result in stronger GDP growth later this year. Total new financing, which includes both official bank loans and lending via the […]

The Real Economies Set To Dominate Q2

By John Richardson Sometimes a picture is worth many thousands of words. The above chart, supplied by one of the blog’s resources analyst contacts in Perth, Western Australia, neatly illustrates the dangerous divergence between real ecoomies and financial markets. As the Nikkei 225 has surged, Arabian Gulf very large crude carrier (VLCC) freight rates to […]

India PVC Growth In Context

By John Richardson INDIAN polyvinyl chloride (PVC) demand is expected to increase by 13-14% in the financial year ending 31 March 2013 compared with just 3% growth in 2011-2012. This is further evidence that, just perhaps, the decline in the country’s overall macro-economic environment has bottomed out. “In volume terms, consumption will reach around 2.25m […]

PVC’s Unsustainable China Growth

By John Richardson POLYMER markets continue to tell us that China’s 2009-2010 economic stimulus programme delivered unsustainable demand growth. China’s demand for polyvinyl chloride (PVC) surged from 10.9m tonnes in 2009 to 13.2m tonnes in 2010, according to Global Trade Information Services (GTIS).  Demand then reached 14.1m tonnes in 2011. The slowdown in growth reflected government […]

India PVC Reflects Macro Problems

By John Richardson WHAT is happening in India’s polyvinyl chloride (PVC) sector reflects some of the macro-economic challenges we discussed earlier this week. An additional 8.5m tonnes of PVC pipes demand could be generated in the space of just five years if the government can get its act together on economic reform, said an Indian […]

South Korea “Denial” Continues

  By John Richardson EARNINGS estimates for South Korean petrochemicals companies for the full-year 2012 remain around 30 percent above where they should be because “most financial analysts remain in denial“, said an industry source. A sign of how bad the times have become was that LG Chem’s Q2 results, which were released last week, […]

US Targets China VAT Rebates

                 Mitt Romney would declare China a currency manipulator                Source of picture: Wikimeda        By John Richardson China’s practice of providing value-added tax (VAT) rebates for importers of raw materials who then re-export finished goods is the subject of a new US Department of Commerce ruling. And a leading international trade lawyer […]

Jump to page: