ICIS Blogs : economic growth

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)

After destocking, chemical volumes remain down 15-20%

Chemicals & The Economy — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 19:06:24 GMT

The great wave of destocking is finally coming to an end. And it is clear that underlying global demand is well below previous "normal" levels. The evidence for this can be seen in the above chart, based on American Chemistry Council data, which...(read more)

Ineos appoint Morgan Stanley for Grangemouth

Chemicals & The Economy — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 09:19:52 GMT

The blog's close eye on Scotland's media has again been rewarded this morning, as 'The Scotsman' reveals that Ineos have appointed Morgan Stanley, the investment bank, to advise on the sale of Grangemouth. It suggests that a company such...(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)

Industrial output decline follows Depression trend

Chemicals & The Economy — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 12:34:22 GMT

Sweden is an influential adviser on credit crunch issues. This is because of the lessons it learned during its own major banking collapse in the early 1990's, which has close parallels with today's global crisis. Its central bank argues that the...(read more)

US plastics firms switch from auto parts

Chemicals & The Economy — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 09:33:13 GMT

Employment in the US auto industry has already halved since 2000, to less than 500,000. Now, with major restructuring underway, suppliers of plastics components are looking around for other markets. One current success story, identified by the Wall Street...(read more)

The Boom/Gloom Index©

Chemicals & The Economy — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 06:01:30 GMT

Markets are driven by two factors, sentiment and fundamentals. Fundamentals can be followed by analysing hard data. In chemical markets, for example, key areas include new housing starts, auto sales, industrial production, Asian exports, etc. This data...(read more)

Aromatics feedstocks: 'Back to the Future'

Chemicals & The Economy — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 10:13:02 GMT

For the past 40 years, the aromatics industry has usually had to 'bid away' its feedstock from the octane and gasoline pool. The only exception took place in S Korea during the early 1990's, when local gasoline demand was low. This gave the...(read more)

Vitol warns on current oil prices

Chemicals & The Economy — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 21:38:49 GMT

Vitol are one of the world's largest oil traders. Thus the blog was interested to see their CEO, Ian Taylor, suggesting that the recent rise in oil prices "does not sit comfortably with the currently available supply and demand data". According...(read more)

Dow Corning focus on efficiency, innovation

Chemicals & The Economy — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:27:51 GMT

Margins and volumes are under enormous pressure in most chemical markets. And as noted in the 2009 Outlook , companies need to develop an imaginative response to the pricing issues that they face. They also need to maintain faith in the future by continuing...(read more)

US unemployment hits 9.4%

Chemicals & The Economy — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 06:15:27 GMT

The US unemployment rate is now at its second highest level since records began in 1948. It was only higher in the early 1980's, at 10.9% in December 1982. It rose last month to 9.4%, and is now above the May 1975 peak of 9%. The only positive sign...(read more)

V-shaped sellers meet L-shaped buyers

Chemicals & The Economy — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 14:48:35 GMT

Picture: www.businessoffashion.com A senior figure in the investment community told the blog recently that companies' views on the outlook for the economy seemed to vary according to their own financial position, "the stronger the balance sheet...(read more)

Germany attacks central bank policy

Chemicals & The Economy — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 05:47:37 GMT

During the growth years, it became fashionable for politicians to claim that central banks were "independent". But as the current crisis has grown, this has been increasingly exposed as a myth. As the blog noted back in September 2007 , Alan...(read more)

Difficult decisions loom on future US auto demand

Chemicals & The Economy — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 12:54:25 GMT

By the end of May last year, 6.2m autos had been sold in the US market, each containing $2700 of chemicals (according to the ACC). The total sales value to the chemical industry was $16.8bn. So far this year, just 3.9m autos have been sold, with a value...(read more)

Markets in Wonderland

Chemicals & The Economy — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 13:41:19 GMT

"Sometimes, I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast" said the Queen in Lewis Carroll's famous book, 'Alice in Wonderland' Today would have been a good day for her to practise this ability, as she read...(read more)