Entries from Asian Chemical Connections tagged with 'japan'
Northeast Asia Confronts PVC Consolidation
By John Richardson ASIAN higher cost polyvinyl chloride (PVC) producers are facing the twin squeeze of increased electricity costs and very competitive exports from the US, according to an industry source the blog met with in Taipei, ahead of tomorrow...
Asia Faces More Asset Bubbles
Marc Faber Source of picture: http://www.cliffkule.com/2011_06_26_archive.html By John Richardson RECENT action by Western central banks will result in more hot money flowing into Asia, creating further asset-price bubbles. Last week, the Fed launched QE3 and the previous week, the European...
Northeast Asia PE Weakest Margins
Source: ICIS pricing Weekly Asian PE Margin Report By John Richardson The slide above shows how Northeast Asian naphtha-based polyethylene (PE) producers are struggling as a result of the weak China market (dark blue bars). And it confirms...
The Changing Landscape For Manufacturers
The New Normal involves three major transformations in the nature of consumer markets, which are: • The increasing size of the New Old 55+ age group in the West. • Too many young people struggling with higher unemployment....
Asia refining: tough times ahead
By Malini Hariharan The going has been good for the refining industry this year but analysts are predicting a weaker 2012 and 2013. UBS for instance, expects complex refining margin in Asia to fall 20% in 2012 from the average...
Japan Disaster: Plants and markets update
By Malini Hariharan Japan's benzene supply is expected to drop by 10% following plant shutdowns and diversion of product for gasoline blending, reports my colleague Mahua Chakravarty. This works out to about 40,000 tonnes/month, which is lower than the initial...
PX/PTA prices spike as supply dries up
By Malini Hariharan The paraxylene (PX)-purified terephthalic acid (PTA) market appears to be bearing the brunt of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. Spot supplies of PX have dried up following the shutdown of three Japanese plants with a total capacity...
Japan Disaster - Plants update
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...
Japan Disaster - Some petchem plants shut; markets stable
By Malini Hariharan News is slowly trickling in on the status of Japanese petrochemical plants. Only four of the country's 14 crackers have shut down while a few are running at reduced rates, reports ICIS news. JX Nippon Oil &...
Japan More Competitive Than You Might Think
Tokyo at nightSource of picture: liveworldtours.com By Malini Hariharan it is easy to write off the Japanese petrochemicals industry which has for long struggled to find a solution to the dual pressure of rising global competition and...
The Dangers of Forgetfulness
By John Richardson "IF YOU want to develop a good memory, you should learn to stop xxxxxxx forgetting, you brain-dead idiot" a former editor of mine often said, in his charming Glaswegian accent, after I had made the same mistake...
More action needed at Mitsubishi Chem
By Malini Hariharan Japan's largest chemical company Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings has been actively restructuring this year but more needs to be done to complete its transformation. High on the list is reorganization of its cracker operations at Mizushima. Mitsubishi and...
Caution is the name of the game
By Malini Hariharan (Malini is now joint blogger for Asian Chemical Connections) Japanese chemical majors have raised their sales and profit forecasts for the second half of the fiscal year ending 31 March 2010, but the revisions are marginal and...
How To Get Rid Of Management Consultants
Fed up with receiving those obscenely large bills from trendy management consultants populated by wet-behind-the-ears Harvard graduates? Ever thought that a great deal of commonsense is all you need to run a business rather than theoretical nonsense? These guys, as...
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