The above chart is very welcome news at the start of 2011. It updates the blog’s posting in July, which highlighted the dramatic increase in mentions of force majeures in ICIS news during H1. This linked to increasing concerns about availability issues amongst consumers. The fear was that maintenance spend on plant and equipment might […]
Chemicals and the Economy
China’s gasoline at record highs, EU’s close to peak
Crude oil prices have been rocketing lately. In turn, they have produced the seemingly ‘strong’ year-end for the chemical industry forecast by the blog in early November. At this point, there is a clear divergence of view. The blog’s bullish friends see this as a sign of a major recovery in demand, and confidently forecast […]
Planning for Uncertainty
The blog’s New Year Outlook has just been published in ICIS Chemical Business. Please click here if you would like to download a copy It suggests that 2010 turned out to be a better year than many in the industry had expected. But even so, global operating rates (OR%), at 86%, remain well below those […]
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