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Asian Chemical Connections

Power shortages strike China

By Malini Hariharan The problems for Chinese manufacturers are multiplying. Besides having to worry about rising input costs, inflationary pressures and tightening of credit, companies now have to contend with unexpected power cuts. This is usually the low season for power consumption in the country but supply to industrial units is being rationed in some […]

One piece at a time

By Malini Hariharan Yesterday’s announcement by Asahi Kasei, Sabic and Mitsubishi Chemical of a joint-venture acrylonitrile (AN) project in Saudi Arabia fills up one more slot in the kingdom’s petrochemical value chain and supports the move downstream. Sceptics might question the viability of this strategy but Saudi companies are slowly pressing ahead. Mohammed Al-Mady, Sabic’s […]

Trouble for PX, PTA and MEG

By Malini Hariharan All is not well in the Asian polyester chain. Demand has slowed down exerting a steady downward pressure on prices. Purified terephthalic acid (PTA) spot prices have dropped by $100/tonne in the last week to $1,290-1,300/tonne CFR China Main Port and the outlook for the coming months is bearish, reports ICIS news. […]

Global manufacturing set to drift

By Malini Hariharan China’s status as factory for the world is under threat as rising costs of operating are startingto bite. Estimates of wage cost hike this year range from 10% to 20%. And if higher prices of raw material such as cotton and plastics plus the appreciation of the yuan are factoried in, then […]

Will the US lead the next olefins wave?

By Malini Hariharan A few weeks back after a post on the rise of shale gas the blog was asked a question about new petrochemical investments in North Americas. Were they feasible? Would ethane prices remain attractive for the long term especially considering the recent run up in spot prices. Well, companies are certainly confident, […]

Butadiene – will the good times last?

By Malini Hariharan A question that every butadiene buyer has been asking for a long time is when will prices ease? There are no signs yet although buyers are threatening to cut production. Butadiene rose by more than $200/tonne last week to $3,080-3,120/tonne CFR Northeast Asia, reports my colleague Helen Yan on ICIS news. Prices […]

The Chemicals Party Is Over

By John Richardson IT has been a fantastic party. Nobody expected that the drinks would last for so long, thanks to Wen Jiabao and Ben Bernanke working overtime to man the 24/7 off-licence (it is called “liquor store” in the States and a “bottle shop” in Australia). But now the market has clearly reached the top with […]

Petchems Could Enjoy Abundant Naphtha

By John Richardson THE refining industry enjoyed a golden era before the global economic crisis thanks to a booming economy and gasoline shortages caused by Hurricane Katrina. Inevitably, therefore, as is so often the case with commodity industries, too much new capacity was planned that came on-stream at the worst possible time. But recently some […]

China Inflation Impact On Chemicals

By John Richardson POLYETHYLENE (PE) prices were assessed stable-to-weaker by my colleagues at ICIS pricing late last week as Sinopec was reported to be evaluating a 10% reduction in operating rates. Sinopec hardly ever cuts production on market conditions as its main objective is not to make a profit, but rather serve local manufacturing industry […]

China’s Inflation Struggle

By John Richardson LIKE the boy who cried Wolf the blog might not be believed as we once again warn about the risks ahead for China’s economy. We have been worried for a long time that eventually China’s huge economic stimulus package, in response to the threat of social unrest, would cause some major problems. […]

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