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Asian Chemical Connections

China Affordability Challenge

By John Richardson THE “gold rush” is over in China”, François-Henry Bennahmias, chief executive of Audemars Piguet, a Swiss watch company that is closing six of its 22 stores in China, told the New York Times. Swiss watch exports to mainland China dropped 26% in the first quarter from a year earlier, said the same […]

One In Three Chance Of 5% China GDP Growth

By John Richardson THERE is a one in three chance of China’s real GDP growth averaging 5% or less over four consecutive quarters before the end of 2014, warns Nomura, said Bloomberg in this article. And the bank added that its China Stress Index, which monitors the risk of a hard landing, recorded its highest […]

Sinopec And The Blog’s Favourite Triangle

By John Richardson ONE of Sinopec’s subsidiaries, Shanghai Petrochemical, has weighed-in to the debate over US shale gas by warning that cheap petrochemicals imports from the States could erode the whole of China’s competitiveness. “We can’t tell how severe the blow will be, but it will pose a serious challenge, and the entire industry will […]

The Saudi Feedstock Debate Intensifies

By John Richardson THE debate about the future competitiveness of Saudi petrochemicals versus the US is heating up. In January, we reported that Jamal Malaikah (see picture), the president of Saudi polypropylene (PP) producer National Petrochemical Industrial Co (NATPET), had warned about an eroding Middle East advantage as a result of US shale gas. And […]

Beijing: China Deceleration On Track

Source of chart: http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/    By John Richardson THERE has been a hugely important shift in the attitude of China’s central government. In the old days, when they set a target of say 12% national industrial production growth for a particular year, such targets were usually wildly exceeded. This was the result of local governments, […]

China’s Cancer Villages

Source of picture: Wikispaces.   By John Richardson CHINA has as many as 400 “cancer villages”, with many of the cancer clusters being blamed on the chemicals industry. Much of the nation’s countryside – the source of China’s food supply – is contaminated with toxic chemicals, it is claimed. Experts estimate that there has been an 80% increase […]

Players In Europe And Asia Are Serious About Cheap US Ethane

A fascinating guest blog post by my colleague, Nigel Davis (see below) explores how excess US ethane supply could help raise the competitiveness of European and US crackers. Provided, of course, that there is sufficient demand. By Nigel Davis IT is becoming clear that European companies aside from INEOS are looking seriously at importing ethane […]

China’s “Overwhelming” Overcapacity

By John Richardson A HOPE being expressed by chemicals and polymer traders and producers the blog has spoken to this week is that the surge in lending in China during the first quarter will result in stronger GDP growth later this year. Total new financing, which includes both official bank loans and lending via the […]

When Lower Growth Is Good News

  Beijing Life on the left, with lower growth, or life on the right with a higher GDP number. What would you choose? Source of picture: Wikimedia   By John Richardson WHEN is lower growth good news? Monday ‘s announcement that China grew by a relatively modest 7.7% in Q1 is one example. As the FT’s The […]

China GDP Slowdown No Surprise

By John Richardson ALL but two analysts out of a Bloomberg survey of 41 over-estimated China’s first-quarter GDP growth. Monday’s announcement of the 7.7% increase – pushing China in to the longest streak of expansion below 8% for 20 years – understandably, therefore, led to numerous downgrades in full-year 2013 growth forecasts. For example: *Louis […]

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