By John Richardson WE were right about China’s change of economic direction, which we identified in November 2013. We were then right about the collapse in oil prices from August 2014 onwards. And we also made the right call when we pointed out that these two events are inextricably linked. Being right in the past is, […]
Asian Chemical Connections
China: Wrong Questions Will Give You The Wrong Answers
By John Richardson IF you start with the wrong questions about China, you are obviously going to end up with the wrong answers. In the case of China’s polyolefins industry, too many people are still asking themselves this wrong question: How can inland coal-to-polyolefins plants survive, never mind run at high operating rates, because of […]
Oil Prices: The Denial Persists
By John Richardson THERE is a tentative and rather fragile belief out there that oil prices have on this occasion finally bottomed in the mid-$35/bbl range. This is partly based on the production freeze announced by Saudi Arabia and Russia in mid-February. The US Energy Information Administration also announced that US shale oil production […]
Manage Demand And Keep Control Of Your Business
By John Richardson CHEMICALS companies don’t always disappear when things turn bad. Ownership can instead just change hands. Reasons for this include the fact that private investors are of course always seeking to make money from any crisis. Why not buy perfectly good assets for just a few cents on each dollar of debt of […]
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