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Asian Chemical Connections

Does anyone have a clue?

by John Richardson

Cartoon: Peter Brookes, The Times Yes, this blog has gone staggeringly quiet over the last few weeks as I gained a life: I went home to the UK and mixed with some people who had no interest in or desire to know anything about polypropylene. Do you realise that there are some people out there […]

Aussie on a losing wicket

by John Richardson

The timing of when to strike the ball is everything in the wonderful sport of cricket – and also, apparently, in the American pastime of baseball. An Australian banker is fond of reminding the English how much better his country is at playing cricket. But his gloating doesn’t extend to how well he’s been timing […]

Some important new petchem trends

by John Richardson

To keep you updated on what we believe is happening in petrochemicals, here are some important recent trends: *Futures markets in China are playing an increasingly important role in influencing pricing in polyolefins, methanol and PTA. Trading volume on the Dalian Commodity Exchange (watch out for Focus piece due out on ICIS today) for LLDPE […]

Short-term gain could equal long-term pain

by John Richardson

In the depths of the Asian financial crisis an American industry executive said, “I don’t know why Korea has a petrochemical industry. It should be just shut down.” There were also widespread complaints over “soft” government-directed loans that supported Asian companies through the difficult times of 1997-98. How the tables have turned, according to another […]

I don’t want to gloat but I told you so….

by John Richardson

It looks like olefins and aromatics prices are on the retreat in Asia as I predicted earlier this month. I only feel slightly smug because it seems obvious that naphtha was a big driver – and that markets were being talked up by producers desperate to recover monumental Q4 losses. There will be lots more […]

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