By John Richardson THERE are so many angles to this that, as with the potential outcomes of the US presidential election, China’s Fifth Plenum is worth many acres of newsprint. The plenum is taking place on 26-29 October, whereas, as everyone bar the odd Martian knows, the US election is on 3 November. The plenum […]
Asian Chemical Connections
Debate about refinery closures, re-configurations a harmful distraction for the petrochemicals business
In the second of a four-part series of blog posts that examines the paradigm shift confronting the petrochemicals industry – rising public and legislative pressure over plastic rubbish – I look at the harmful distraction of conventional thinking. Far too much of the debate within our industry is whether or not there will be enough […]
Developed world polymers demand: layer after layer of new complexity
By John Richardson THE PROPOSITION that petrochemicals and polymers demand in the developed will see a V-shaped recovery in 2021 assumes two things. One is that demand will have fallen in 2019 versus last year and the second is that the worst of economic times are behind us. There are so, so many challenges to […]
China rapid rebound promises another great year for petchems, but beware of the fault lines
By John Richardson IT helped immensely that as the rest of the world was shutting down, China’s factories were coming back on stream. This allowed China to corner global markets for face masks, other personal protective equipment and pharmaceuticals. What was also a big plus for China was that it already had large global stakes […]
Plastic rubbish: the pandemic is increasing rather than reducing the pressure for change
This is the first of a series of blog posts where I will examine the environmental paradigm shift and what it means for the petrochemicals industry. This first post deals with the bottom end of the value chain, the plastic packaging business, and the pressure being exerted upward on petrochemicals producers to change how they […]
Retreat of globalisation and implications for petrochemicals
By John Richardson EVER SINCE the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, and the last great geopolitical struggle came to an end, the petrochemicals business has benefited from a highly globalised world. Product has flowed, almost seamlessly, from one country to another in ever greater volumes. Sure, it has never been the case of feedstock advantage […]
China’s short and long-term domestic consumption challenges will be difficult to resolve
By John Richardson A CURSORY glance at the data from China’s Golden Week holidays, as I predicted would be the case, indicate that everything is right with the world. There were 637m domestic trips during the eight-day break, generating revenue of yuan (CNY) 466.6bn ($69.5bn), according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Tourism spending […]
European petrochemicals at risk of delayed demand collapse as new business model emerges
By John Richardson AS DELEGATES take part in this year’s virtual annual European Petrochemical Association (EPCA) meeting, they need to try and get to the bottom of the mystery of why demand for the product at the heart of the steam cracker business – polyethylene (PE) – has done so surprisingly well. Once they have […]
US polyethylene: resilient demand could be at risk from delay to new stimulus
By John Richardson THIS REMAINS a mystery that needs to be solved: why US polyethylene (PE) markets continue to perform so much better in 2020 than they did during the Global Financial Crisis. Why it is such a mystery is that the economic events of 2008 were nowhere near as grim as this year. US […]
China petrochemicals demand boom remains heavily reliant on finished goods exports
By John Richardson THERE will be a lot of official data released about booming consumer spending during China’s Golden Week and National Day holidays, which run from 1-8 October. The numbers, when they emerge later this month, will be broadly seen as further evidence that China’s recovery is firmly on track. This will add to […]