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Asian Chemical Connections

China: Starting All Over Again

By John Richardson WE NOW know is that China’s real GDP growth is probably heading into negative territory, perhaps by as early as Q4 – and if not by then, certainly in 2015. But in order to fully answer “how bad will it get before it gets good again?” we need to also evaluate just how […]

Diesel Demand In China To Fall As Banks Hoard Cash….

..…LETTERS OF CREDIT TAKE 5-6 WEEKS TO OBTAIN, UP FROM 5-6 DAYS – THAT’S IF YOU GET THEM AT ALL   By John Richardson DIESEL consumption is another crucial measure of China’s real economic growth because China is the world’s manufacturing powerhouse. This means lots of demand for diesel to run trucks, trains and back-up electricity generators etc. […]

China And Tearing Up The Rule Book: A Ten-Point Guide

By John Richardson WE thought it would be helpful for chemicals to summarise our thoughts on China as chemicals and other companies prepare their strategies for 2015. See our ten-point guide below, with relevant links to our previous coverage and coverage elsewhere: The Deng Xiaoping growth model went on far for too long, especially post […]

Why China’s Anti-Corruption Campaign Has To Continue

By John Richardson CHINA’s anti-corruption campaign is now more than two years old and continues to generate a great deal of criticism. These criticisms include claims that it sometimes targets the wrong individuals – and that the campaign might end up being all about China’s senior leadership cementing their positions, rather than tackling the underlying […]

China’s Demand For Lending In Steep Decline

By John Richardson WHEN the demand for lending in any economy starts to decline, you know that the people who make up that economy have an understanding that things are likely to get worse before they get better. Hence, chemicals and other companies need to take note of the latest survey from the People’s Bank […]

China’s Lending Up Just 5% As Govt Refuses To Blink

By John Richardson CHINA’S official bank lending was up just 5% in January-August of this year compared with the same period in 2013, according to some more value-added data crunching by our fellow blogger, Paul Hodges. It is  absolutely critical to put this 5% increase into this context: •The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the […]

China Excess Phenol Capacity A New Strategic Tool

By John Richardson STANDARD Western cost-per-tonne analysis has never really been applied in China’s petrochemicals industry – and it never will be applied. In the past, we have seen how petrochemicals plants have often been run at operating rates of 100% or more, even in the lousiest of market conditions, in order to guarantee supplies […]

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