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Chemicals and the Economy

Tesco say price-cutting will continue

Q3 comments from Tesco, the world’s 3rd largest retailer, confirm the picture of a more frugal consumer suggested by other majors. On the positive side, they report “a material improvement” in sales “in both Asia and Europe“. And Tesco expect “this trend to continue into Q4 and beyond”. But on the less positive side, CFO […]

Dalian LLDPE prices now seem to follow crude oil

China’s Dalian polymer futures market continues to have a major influence on regional, and global, polyethylene markets. But November’s trading volume was lower than a year ago, at 25 million tonnes. This is the first negative annual growth since volume took off in June last year. Last month, the blog noted a comment from LyondellBasell […]

UK to tax bankers’ bonuses

UK Finance Minister Alistair Darling is widely reported today as being about to announce a ‘super-tax’ on bonuses paid to bankers working in the UK. The government’s argument, notes the BBC’s Robert Peston, is that “Investment banks are making exceptional profits, as a result of the intervention of government and the Bank of England to […]

2010 may see seasonal demand patterns resume

The American Chemistry Council’s excellent weekly report contains some potentially good news on the outlook for Q1 demand. Its detailed analysis of US polymer markets (above) suggests customers are currently reducing their inventories. CFO’s presumably assume that the main impact of the housing/auto stimulus programmes is now finished, and are no doubt keen to keep […]

Boom/Gloom Index remains range-bound

The momentum-driven rally in financial markets has slowed recently, with many now in temporary trading ranges. And this is reflected in December’s IeC Boom/Gloom Index (above). The Index (blue column) has been steady since June. Underlying fundamentals show no sign of improvement. The ‘green shoots’ index (green line), which tracks expectations for a quick economic […]

1 in 4 US children on food stamp aid

Wall Street may be paying out $bns in bonuses. But in the rest of the USA, rising unemployment and foreclosure are having a major impact. In a new analysis, the New York Times reveals that the Federal food stamp programme “now helps feed one in eight Americans and one in four children“. Renamed the Supplemental […]

China’s polyethylene imports surge 63%

The above chart, courtesy of trade data experts GTIS, shows the extraordinary leap in China’s polyethylene imports this year. They have surged 63% January – October in 2009 (blue bar) to 6.7 million tonnes versus 4.2 MT in 2007 (green bar) and 2008 (orange bar). Many countries have seen massive rises. Iran exported 404kt vs […]

Wise words from Shell, BASF and Reliance

In difficult times, the industry looks to the major companies for their advice. And they certainly provided this at our 8th European Conference (co-organised with ICIS), Shell’s Jonathan Forbes-Lane, European GM, focused on the “gale-force recession” now underway. He expected “prices to stay volatile and unpredictable because they were being pulled in opposing directions by […]

Teesside’s 10-point plan for UK government

The blog congratulates Teesside’s industry leaders on their 10-point plan to safeguard the future of the area’s chemical industry. They have worked very quickly since the initiative was established last month. Clearly, self-help can only take the industry so far, in today’s crisis. It is clearly right that government support should also be provided. The […]

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