By John Richardson THE most important thing here is the human cost. Thirty lives had already been lost as a result of Hurricane Harvey as I wrote this post. Let’s hope that if this number must rise, it doesn’t rise by many more. But at times like this chemicals and other companies have to of […]
Asian Chemical Connections
China Lending Bubble Adds 4.7m Tonnes To Polyethylene Consumption
By John Richardson THE IMF produced a very interesting study earlier this month, in which it estimated that if it had not been for China’s giant economic stimulus programme the country’s real GDP growth would have averaged only 5.3% per annum during the five years to 2016. Instead, however, the IMF estimates that China’s economy […]
US Trade Agenda Threatens 49% Of US Polyethylene Exports
By John Richardson WHICH President Trump will end up setting the final direction of policy? Will it be the President Trump who spoke off-script at a campaign-style rally in Phoenix, Arizona, this week or the President who a day later addressed military veterans in Reno, Nevada, in much more measured tones? Or will the ultimate […]
US Trade Policy Has So Far Bought China More Time…
…..But any number of outcomes remain possible, which underlines the fact that we live in a world of elevated political risk. Chemicals companies must, as a result, build multiple scenarios for future economic growth and trade flows. By John Richardson TIME was a commodity that China didn’t think it had very much of as recently […]
China To Drive 55% Of Global Polyethylene Growth In 2007-2017….
.…Major risks ahead from this over-dependence on China By John Richardson FOLLOWING on from my post on Friday, which showed almost exactly the same story for polypropylene (PP), see the above chart detailing the importance to the global polyethylene (PE) business of China’s consumption growth. Over-exposure to China is a greater risk in the […]
China Drives 58% Of Global PP Growth, So What’s Your Plan B?
By John Richardson THIS IS a great example of putting most of your eggs in one basket! Polypropylene (PP) shareholders are entitled to ask what Plan B is if China can no longer deliver as much as 58% of the total growth in global PP demand. This is what ICIS Consulting forecasts will be the […]
China Growth Slows On Collapse In Shadow Bank Financing
By John Richardson YOU should print-off the above chart and stick it on your chemicals company boardroom wall. From fellow blogger Paul Hodges, it shows the collapse in credit issued via China’s shadow banking system. It is the shadow banking system that has driven China’s debt-t0-GDP ratio to as high as 650% – and could […]
Stock Market Threats Far Wider Than Just North Korea
By John Richardson LAST WEEK’S steep fall in global stock markets was of course the result of rising US-North Korea geopolitical tensions. Some $1 trillion was wiped off equity values. We obviously all hope that the geopolitical tensions will ease. But that would still leave behind a bull-run in global equities that has mainly been […]
China’s “Minsky Moment” And The Global Economy
By John Richardson HYMAN MINSKY was an American economist who focused his career on studying the causes of financial crises. He developed what he called a ‘financial instability hypothesis” which was based on the notion that long periods of stability sow the seeds of future crises. His ground breaking work, which is used to explain […]
Life Cycle Of Plastics Packaging Demand And Internet Sales
By John Richardson THERE is a huge amount of excitement out there right now about booming internet sales and how this also boosting packaging demand and so sales of polymers such as polyethylene (PE), polypropylene and polystyrene. China is, not surprisingly, the biggest growth market. Demand for foamed PE is, for example, booming in China […]
Jump to page: