Source of picture: http://whyfiles.org/ By John Richardson MY colleague Nigel Davis has written an excellent Insight article which highlights how some chemicals companies are seeking to respond to changing patterns. As we have discussed before, Bayer Material Science...
By John Richardson DOW Chemical's Andrew Liveris has changed his views on China as a result of an economic slowdown that seems to have taken many people by surprise. "China's economy has continued to decelerate as European exports suffered,"...
By John Richardson SOME commodity chemicals companies still assume that, if they build new supply, demand will always eventually catch up with supply. The risks of not building new capacities, at times of easy financing and feedstock availability,...
Martin Brudermüller Source of picture: BASF By John Richardson "THE struggle over China's future direction seems to be harder fought than we had imagined," said BASF vice chairman Martin Brudermüller last Thursday, in a German newspaper interview. "There...
By John Richardson THE big difference in the mood at the ground level of certain parts of the petrochemicals industry compared with that of company board members and investors was thrown into further stark relief earlier this week. As we...
By John Richardson CHEMICAL share prices have surged to the top of what one industry observer calls "buzz mountain" during the last six months. The buzz has been centred on the supercycle theory which holds that recent corrections in commodity...
By John Richardson Yesterday we suggested that demographic challenges in the West, the strain on resources resulting from rising consumption in emerging markets and rising inflation should heavily feature in discussions at this week's World Economic Forum in Davos....
Davos 2011 Source of picture: eacci.net By John Richardson THE edginess and nervousness of Asian polyolefin markets we talked about last week is likely to be part of the mindset of any chemicals company CEO right now. As...
By Malini Hariharan There is finally some movement at Petronas. After last month's joint announcement with BASF on a study for a Euro1bn investment in speciality chemicals, news has emerged that the Malaysian major is also exploring the feasibility of...
Jurgen Hambrecht Source of picture: www.wiwo.de/unternehmen-maerkte By John Richardson BASF'S Jurgen Hambrecht has made highly critical and extremely high-profile comments about China's business environment, according to the Financial Times. The CEO of the German chemicals giant is quoted as...
Spain saves the world economy Source of picture: www.fifa.com By John Richardson GLOBAL chemicals sentiment seems to be muddled and confused as the constant flood of positive and negative macro economic data. Take last week's American Chemistry...
Gillian Tett: Worth Listening To Source of picture: afponline.org By John Richardson The excellent journalist Gillian Tett, whose book on the financial crisis - Fool's Gold is well worth a read - again hits the nail on the...
Flagging-up the dangers... Source of picture: http://www.illusionsofdander.com/2007/08/car-dealerships-and-flag-companies-may.html By John Richardson THE recent 22% and 18% falls in US spot ethylene and propylene prices might be a sign that this yeat's price rallies have been more the result of stronger crude and petrochemicals re-stocking...
Source of picture: http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/ By John Richardson GROWTH in Europe isn't going to return to 2008 levels before 2012, said BASF CEO Jurgen Hambrecht on the release of the German diversified chemical giant's financial results for...
Will growth spread quickly enough? Source of picture: www.oraclemarketplace.co.uk By John Richardson Global chemicals production had returned to 2006 levels by October of this year, according to this slide ACCProduction09Versus06.ppt from the American Chemistry Council (ACC). Worldwide chemicals...
By John Richardson Manufacturers yesterday reported rising output and improved employment prospects in the US, Europe and Asia. China's Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), involving a survey of more than 700 manufacturers, increased for the eighth straight month in a row...
Offsetting the risk of being over-optimistic? Source of picture: thetradingpit.net MAYBE there should futures contracts in realism versus recklessness. That way any senior company executive who wants to take a punt on next year being better than 2009...
Chemical companies as a whole displayed "dangerously complacent" views about second-half 2009 prospects when they released their Q2 results late last week, argues chemicals analyst Paul Satchell in his blog. "They believe that demand has bottomed. Although they can't...
Apologies for letting this blog slip again, but have been busy trying to make a crust presenting ICIS training courses. And so as a bonus for our army of avid readers, here are my extended thoughts on the above: In...
Consensus opinion tends to swing firmly in one direction and then the other. For example, in the good old days of 2007 you would have been pretty hard-pressed to find many in the chemicals industry who saw anything but...
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