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Asian Chemical Connections

Yet another week of price corrections

By Malini Hariharan Asian petrochemical markets continue to face downward pressure on concerns about the health of the global economy. Market sentiment for most products remains poor with buyers in no rush to resume purchases. Polyolefin markets closed last week on a weak note. Prices of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and polypropylene (PP) dropped $10-40/tonne last […]

India petchem projects update

By Malini Hariharan India’s major petrochemical projects are inching forward very slowly and the blog will not be surprised if there are more delays along the way. Reliance has yet to kick start its 1.4-1.6m tonnes/year cracker project adjacent to two refineries at Jamnagar, on the west coast of India. The cracker will be based […]

Formosa’s troubles deepen, markets rally on supply concerns

By Malini Hariharan The latest accident at Formosa Petrochemical Corp’s (FPCC) refinery at Mailiao, Taiwan, on Sunday is adding to the bullish sentiment in markets for key petrochemicals. A fire in the propylene recovery unit has forced the company to close its 540,000 bbls/day refinery and related facilities, including two residual fluid catalytic cracking units […]

China Chemical Imports Fall On Affordability

By John Richardson China’s petrochemical imports continued to decline in June on tight credit conditions and price rises that deterred consumers, according to our colleagues at ICIS news. Linear-low density polyethylene (LLDPE) imports fell by 18% month-on-month and 3% year-on-year, for example. High-density PE (HDPE) shipments slipped by 4% month-on-month and 8% year-on-year. Benzene shipments halved […]

The Benzene Versus Propylene Debate

By John Richardson SHELL Chemicals put an argument forward last week that polystyrene (PS) had regained ground from polypropylene (PP) as a result of expensive propylene. And the petrochemicals major forecast a bright future for both PS and expandable polystyrene (EPS). The blog pretty much always enjoys playing the devil’s advocate and so later on […]

Bullish on styrene and benzene

By Malini Hariharan Styrene’s addition by the US to a list of ‘anticipated carcinogens’ does not seem to have affected producers demand growth expectations for the product or for its key feedstock benzene. Speaking at the 5th ICIS Asian Aromatics and Derivatives Conference in Singapore earlier this week, Alexander Farina, Shell Chemical’s general manager for […]

Petro Rabigh phase 2 and Aramco’s ambition

By Malini Hariharan Petro Rabigh, the Saudi Aramco and Sumitomo Chemical joint venture, has moved to the next round of its ambitious phase 2 expansion which includes a new aromatics facility and a number of value-added derivatives. Construction tenders for seven packages have been issued and bidding is due to close on 1 October. Tenders […]

PTA – one more view

By Malini Hariharan One view on the purified terephthalic acid (PTA) market, highlighted by the blog last week, is that operating rates in the next few years will be constrained by a shortage of feedstock of paraxylene (PX). A rapid buildup in PTA capacity is taking place in China where new plants with a total […]

Trouble for PX, PTA and MEG

By Malini Hariharan All is not well in the Asian polyester chain. Demand has slowed down exerting a steady downward pressure on prices. Purified terephthalic acid (PTA) spot prices have dropped by $100/tonne in the last week to $1,290-1,300/tonne CFR China Main Port and the outlook for the coming months is bearish, reports ICIS news. […]

The Chemicals Party Is Over

By John Richardson IT has been a fantastic party. Nobody expected that the drinks would last for so long, thanks to Wen Jiabao and Ben Bernanke working overtime to man the 24/7 off-licence (it is called “liquor store” in the States and a “bottle shop” in Australia). But now the market has clearly reached the top with […]

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