By John Richardson TEN trillion dollars doesn’t buy what it used to do, according to The Wall Street Journal. The reason is that despite central banks across the world aggressively expanding their balance sheets, there is no inflation. “My customers in China are worried about the opposite – global deflation because demand everywhere is so […]
Asian Chemical Connections
China Producer Price Deflation Continues
By John Richardson China’s factory-gate prices have fallen for 14 months in a row because of huge overcapacity in many industries, said the Wall Street Journal in this article. “Producer prices – a measure of prices of goods before they reach consumers – dropped 2.4% in April, the sharpest decline since October, paced by particularly […]
China Petchems H2 Price Rally
By John Richardson CHINA’S petrochemical prices might rally in the second half of this year, along with local stock markets, in response to the delayed impact of the big surge in bank lending that took place in Q1. James Gruber, author of the Asia Confidential newsletter, argues that a mild H2 recovery is possible because: […]
APIC And Demand
Just an anomaly? Source: American Chemistry Council By John Richardson FEEDSTOCK advantage is, of course, crucially important, but so is demand. And yet the only subject that most people wanted to talk about in any depth at last week’s Asia Petrochemical Industry Conference (APIC) appeared to be how to achieve feedstock advantage. Why? […]
China Compensation
By John Richardson A MAJOR Southeast Asian polyethylene (PE) producer has reduced its percentage of exports to China from 30-40% in 2012 to just 10% so far this year, a source with the producer told the blog on the sidelines of the Asia Petrochemical Industry Conference (APIC) in Taipei. This is further confirmation of the […]
Northeast Asia Confronts PVC Consolidation
By John Richardson ASIAN higher cost polyvinyl chloride (PVC) producers are facing the twin squeeze of increased electricity costs and very competitive exports from the US, according to an industry source the blog met with in Taipei, ahead of tomorrow and Friday’s 2013 Asia Petrochemical Industry Conference (APIC). Such is the pressure on the Japanese, […]
In Search Of Smart Customers
By John Richardson JUST about every Asian cracker operator is losing money right now, according to a polyolefin industry source. And the above chart indicates that margins are wafer-thin in Northeast Asia because of the unexpected weakness in the China market, where polyethylene (PE) demand growth is forecast to either be flat or in negative […]
Malaysia’s Economic Challenges
By John Richardson Barisan Nasional (BN) has won Malaysia’s general election although Anwar Ibrahim (see picture on the left), leader of the opposition, has so far refused to concede defeat because he claims that there has been widespread election fraud. Given that the Election Commission is part of the Prime Minister’s office, however, it seems […]
Taiwan Growth Underlines Long Term Shift
By John Richardson EVIDENCE that China is no longer acting as the growth engine of the world, because it is too busy dealing with internal adjustments, is mounting. For example, on Tuesday of this week Taiwan announced that its year-on-year Q1 2013 GDP growth had fallen to just 1.5%. This was less than half of […]
Southeast Asia ‘s Economic Boom
By John Richardson SOUTHEAST (SEA) polyolefins demand grew by 15-20% last year in some of the region’s emerging countries, such as Indonesia, according to a source with a major global producer. Confidence is high as overseas money pours into super-hot property markets in Indonesia and Thailand. In Indonesia, property prices have risen by as much […]
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