Entries from Asian Chemical Connections tagged with 'polyethyelene'

The Best Of All Possible Worlds

Source of graph: http://www.businessspectator.com.au/    By John Richardson "Candide, the classic novel of the great French writer Voltaire, is a satirical description of a young man who has been taught that 'everything is for the best in the best...

US shale gas buzz in the Middle East

By Malini Hariharan The US shale gas advantage is a recurring theme at this year's GPCA forum with companies giving more details about their expansion plans. Chevron Philips Chemical confirmed that it will build a 1.5m tonnes/year cracker at its...

A question of balance

By Malini Hariharan It is not surprising to read that at a time when many producers around the world are cutting production, cost-advantaged producers in the Middle East will be maintaining operations at their polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) plants....

Formosa's troubles deepen, markets rally on supply concerns

By Malini Hariharan The latest accident at Formosa Petrochemical Corp's (FPCC) refinery at Mailiao, Taiwan, on Sunday is adding to the bullish sentiment in markets for key petrochemicals. A fire in the propylene recovery unit has forced the company to...

Lotte's Indonesian gamble

By Malini Hariharan South Korea's Lotte Group, parent company of Honam Petrochemical, is making yet another bold move. After acquiring Malaysia's Titan Chemicals last year, Lotte has set its sights on a major petrochemical project in Indonesia. "We will start...

Polyolefin numbers - Part 2

By Malini Hariharan Its not just China and India that have posted healthy demand numbers for last year. Vietnam maintained double-digit growth in polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) last year, driven mainly by the local food packaging sector, reports ICIS...

Petronas mulls cracker at Kerteh

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...

A subdued end to a good year

By Malini Hariharan Petrochemical markets, with a few exceptions, will be closing the year on a quiet note. In polyolefins, buying activity in China has slowed down and sentiment remains weak weighed down by the Chinese government's decision to hike...

India PE in a tight spot

By Malini Hariharan It is not just China where polyethylene (PE) producers face problems. Indian producers have been struggling to place volumes as huge imports during the last couple of months have saturated the domestic market. PE import volumes were...