ICIS Blogs : china

World Bank sees deeper recession

Chemicals & The Economy — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 09:57:51 GMT

The chemical industry is always a leading indicator of the global economy. One of the blog's oldest friends used to be a central banker, and he made no secret of the fact that our discussions about demand levels were often an important factor in his...(read more)

China aims to reduce imports

Chemicals & The Economy — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 20:16:26 GMT

China has been a major beneficiary of the globalisation movement in recent years. In turn, it has become a tremendous importer of most chemicals. It accounts for up to 50% of total demand for many Asian chemical producers, and is a critical factor in...(read more)

Stimulus planned for textiles

India Chemicals Blog — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 11:09:34 GMT

India's synthetic fibre and fibre intermediate produces will be happy to know that the textile industry is likely to soon receive a number of incentives from the government. A stimulus package, due to be announced next month, would include subsidies...(read more)

Raining on the Optimists' Parade

Asian Chemical Connections — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 09:09:41 GMT

Source: The Guardian newspaper Apologies for letting this bog slip again. I am on leave, but still pondering where on earth we are heading. This makes a welcome relief from staring up at the grey skies and thinking "summer? What summer?" Yes...(read more)

China borrowing from the future?

Asian Chemical Connections — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 12:16:53 GMT

It's easy to get caught up in the excitement over the rebound in the Chinese economy and miss underlying weaknesses which point to some major problems ahead. To some extent, in a desperate effort to compensate for collapsing export trade, China might...(read more)

China's plastic bag use down after ban

Green Chemicals — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 17:11:04 GMT

ICIS co-blogger Paul Hodges of the Chemicals & The Economy blog reported about this article from China Daily stating that after a year of plastic bag ban in China (which started on June 1, 2008), supermarkets cut their plastic bag use by 66%. Statistics...(read more)

An Affair To Remember

Asian Chemical Connections — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 12:42:24 GMT

Source:Amazon.com I remain perplexed by the direction of chemicals, oil and commodity markets over the last few months - and now I understand the reason why. It's not about feedstock, it's not about inventory levels or what end-use demand is really...(read more)

China's plastic bag ban cuts usage by 66%

Chemicals & The Economy — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 05:33:06 GMT

A year ago today, China banned the issue of free plastic bags from supermarkets, shops and open markets. And it seems the ban has had considerable success. Supermarkets have used 66% fewer bags, according to government figures . The ban has saved 1.6m...(read more)

Be very careful what you wish for...

Asian Chemical Connections — Fri, 29 May 2009 06:17:34 GMT

Source of picture: The Nymex To continue the same theme of earlier this week, I agree with my fellow blogger Paul Hodges when he warns that OPEC's price target for $75-80/bbl could nip the nascent economic recovery in the bud. As he quite rightly...(read more)

China and US house prices

Chemicals & The Economy — Wed, 27 May 2009 20:39:03 GMT

The Financial Times highlights the overwhelming importance of falling US house prices to the outlook for the global economy. It notes that prices are now falling by 2.2%/month, causing a $380bn wealth loss in March alone. It adds that if prices continue...(read more)

The next oil shock and petrochemicals

Asian Chemical Connections — Sun, 24 May 2009 14:23:10 GMT

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 the midst of the economic crisis it...(read more)

Hopes of China recovery "premature" - World Bank

Chemicals & The Economy — Wed, 20 May 2009 13:03:16 GMT

The high level of speculation accompanying China's apparent economic revival worries the World Bank. "Until we see a recovery in private investment, it's hard to get too excited about the future," according to David Dollar, the Bank's...(read more)

Maybe it's not as bleak as I've made out...

Asian Chemical Connections — Mon, 18 May 2009 08:07:23 GMT

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 a mildly cyclical downturn. But...(read more)

China's exports fall 23% in April

Chemicals & The Economy — Tue, 12 May 2009 11:05:01 GMT

China's exports continue to disappoint. They fell 18% in January and 26% in February . March showed a slightly better performance, with a 17% fall. But April was weak again, with a 23% decline in exports and imports. China's problem today is based...(read more)

Net lending declines by 70-80% in Q2 in China

Asian Chemical Connections — Tue, 12 May 2009 05:42:43 GMT

This very interesting note from Jun Ma, chief economist for Greater China at Deutsche Bank (see the end of this post) offers evidence to support what this blog has been worried about for some time - the quality of China's economic rebound. The government...(read more)