Entries from Chemicals & The Economy tagged with 'Russia'
Russia's growth stalls in 2012, as new capacity comes online
The blog's annual review of the Russian market showed production growth stalled in 2012. Output had picked up sharply in 2010-11 following the 2009 crisis. But as the chart shows, based on latest data from statistics agency Rosstat, today's outlook...
Boom/Gloom Index stalls as austerity worries rise
EU policymakers like to pretend that the Eurozone debt crisis was resolved by the adoption of last March's new Treaty. An even more disturbing thought is that they might even believe their own propaganda. Who knows? But on the ground,...
Shale gas supports US PVC exports
Yesterday the blog discussed caustic soda, and the recent importance of China's metal demand. Today it focuses on chlorine and PVC. PVC is the largest end-use for chlorine. It is also critical for chloralkali producers when caustic demand is strong,...
Russia's chemical production continues to grow
Russia has been the great exception in regional chemical markets. Normally, production growth starts at a high level, often 15% a year or more, and then slows as markets become more mature. But in Russia, output collapsed with the Berlin...
Global auto sales growth stalls as BabyBoomers age
Cars are now the largest single market for chemical sales, as housing markets have slowed globally. Each new US car is worth $3297, for example, according to the American Chemistry Council (ACC), making the US market worth $42bn in 2011....
2012 sees rising political risk, and protectionism
The world enjoyed an economic SuperCycle between 1982-2007. Its largest economy, the USA, suffered just 16 months of recession during the whole 25 years. As a result, social and political issues took a back-seat. Politicians instead competed to occupy the...
Oil markets prepare for post-QE2 world
The decision by S&P, the ratings agency, to put the USA's AAA debt rating on review is a potential game-changer for US economic policy. It means that policymakers can no longer pretend the $5trn they have spent over the past...
Russia's chemical output begins to improve
In May last year, the blog was hopeful that the major decline in Russian chemical production might start to reverse. And recent ACC regional production figures have indeed shown a welcome improvement in Central and Eastern European output, which was...
Top 10 posts in 2009
Blog readers have a wide range of interests. That is clear from the list below of the Top 10 posts in 2009. It also confirms the complexity of the chemical industry, and its fascination. In alphabetical order, it is...
Oil prices continue to plateau
Last year, OPEC meetings led to newspaper headlines. But today's session in Vienna seems to have slipped off the radar. Yet the oil market remains as important as ever to chemical companies. As the chart shows, the prime driver for...
Russia's chemical production tumbles
Last week's global production numbers highlighted the startling collapse in output from Central & Eastern Europe. This was the worst regional performer in Q1, and the blog decided to investigate further. Russian output is key to the region's performance. And...
IEA revises down oil demand
The International Energy Agency (IEA) has cut its estimate of expected global GDP growth in 2009 to just 1.2%. It therefore expects the world to record its first back-to-back annual decline in oil demand since 1982/3. It says oil production...
Russia's economy stalls
A few months ago, Russia's economy seemed to be recovering from its problems in the late 1990's. High prices meant oil revenues were increasing, and the currency was strong. Now, the combination of the oil price collapse and the credit...
G-20 tries to support growth
The G-20 was created in 1999, after the financial crises that had hit emerging countries from 1997 onwards. It includes the G7 group of major industrial companies, plus the main emerging economies, including the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China)....
Oil producers at a crossroads
The blog has been thinking about last week's leaked report from the International Energy Agency (IEA). This said that the world needs "to invest $360bn each year until 2030 to replace falling oil production and increase supply". The IEA based...
The global stock market decline
Alan Greenspan's comments (below), led the blog to investigate how the world's major stock markets had moved since their recent peaks. All, as shown in the chart, are now in bear markets. Stock markets often forecast economic developments 6...
Russia's oil trader
Increases in Russian oil supply have played a major role in balancing world oil markets, at a time when other non-OPEC sources such as the N Sea have been declining. Production rose from 6.2mbd in 1999 to 9.6mbd by 2006....
Russian crude supply 'peaking'
Russia is the world’s 2nd largest oil producer. And it has been the main source of increased crude production in recent years. Its output rose 58% between 1999-2006, from 6.2mbd to 9.8mbd. Now Lukoil’s VP, Leonid Fedun, has told...
Stress-testing the global financial system
Yesterday’s "swings in financial derivative prices were so extreme that they implied scenarios in which the core of the global liquidity system suffers a serious assault", according to JP Morgan, the investment bank. Watch out, if current US sub-prime mortgage...
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