ICIS Blogs

Aussie on a losing wicket

The timing of when to strike the ball is everything in the wonderful sport of cricket - and also, apparently, in the American pastime of baseball. An Australian banker is fond of reminding the English how much better his country is at playing cricket...

Published 9 May 2009 17:25 by Asian Chemical Connections

Filed under: US, Economics, aromatics, Polyolefins, Business, Markets, Australia, inventory management, cricket, house prices, The Ashes, housing markets, Q1 bank results, fiscal stimulus, credit-card debt

The China Recovery Conundrum

Good news, bad or indifferent? It was hard to gauge a clear picture from the Q1 macroeconomic numbers for China. While retail sales grew at 14.7% in March compared with 11.5% in February, exports fell 20% during the first quarter. GDP (gross domestic...

Published 17 Apr 2009 7:24 by Asian Chemical Connections

Filed under: US, Economics, China, aromatics, Olefins, Polyolefins, Business, Markets, China economy, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Deutsche Bank, China Q1, China Q1 growth

Some important new petchem trends

To keep you updated on what we believe is happening in petrochemicals, here are some important recent trends: *Futures markets in China are playing an increasingly important role in influencing pricing in polyolefins, methanol and PTA. Trading volume...

Published 15 Apr 2009 1:22 by Asian Chemical Connections

Filed under: US, China, aromatics, Olefins, Polyolefins, Oil & Gas, IEA, OECD, bear-market rally, China speculation, crude futures, chemicals share prices

Asian petchems: A H2 Outlook

Petrochemical markets, as is the case with stock markets, are I believe in the midst of a bear-market rally. As chemicals consultant Paul Hodges predicted on his blog last year, restocking in Q1 was inevitable after the great inventory run-down of the...

Published 13 Apr 2009 10:48 by Asian Chemical Connections

Filed under: US, Economics, China, Europe, aromatics, Olefins, Polyolefins, Oil & Gas, Markets, Naphtha & other feedstocks, Bear Stearns, International eChem, Dalian Commodity Exchange, bear-market rally, China speculation, ethane versus naphtha prices

Chem engineers back with avengeance

At the moment, a shell-shocked chemicals industry is still recovering from the impact of destocking following the huge inventory write downs in Q4. The next step will be to measure the state of genuine, end-user demand and how this compares with the fantastic...

Published 28 Jan 2009 8:17 by Asian Chemical Connections

Filed under: US, Economics, China, technology, Europe, aromatics, Olefins, Polyolefins, Business, Oil & Gas, Markets, Naphtha & other feedstocks, Company Strategy, financial meltdown, M&A, inventory management, chemical engineers, H2 2009 recovery, Nigel Davis

Uncle Sam back from the dead?

A very interesting report by McKinsey (you can sign up free for their online newsletter which only takes a minute) expands on the theme of reverse globalisation which I talked about last week. The cost of shipping a standard 40-foot container has tripled...

Published 10 Sep 2008 9:38 by Asian Chemical Connections

Filed under: US, Economics, China, Environment, technology, Europe, aromatics, Middle East, Olefins, Business, Oil & Gas, Naphtha & other feedstocks, sustainability, Shell Chemicals, McKinsey, Company Strategy, Innnovation, oil price, shipping costs

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