By John Richardson WILL BEIJING blink? The answer to this question could pretty much set the direction of the global petrochemicals industry over the next six to 12 months. In my view, the question over whether the Chinese government will relax its clampdown on local real estate, which Bank of America estimates accounts for 28% […]
Asian Chemical Connections
The multi-million dollar polymers opportunity: continued big regional price differentials
By John Richardson POLYMER BUYERS outside northeast (NEA) and southeast Asia (SEA) have a big opportunity to save millions of dollars on procurement costs during the rest of this year through purchasing more from the two regions. The opportunity has arisen because I believe that NEA and SEA polymer prices will remain very cheap relative […]
More data show how far we still have to go to solve the climate and plastic waste crises
By John Richardson SEE THE END section of this blog post for a dystopian version of our environmental future. In a follow-up post – which I will publish on Thursday, 1 July – I will offer some suggestions about how we can avoid an outcome that nobody of course wants. Both posts are meant to […]
Container freight crisis requires new approaches to cash in on strong underlying demand
By John Richardson I MADE THE argument last Thursday that until or unless the world is fully vaccinated against the pandemic, container freight chaos would continue because of further waves of port restrictions such as the ones taking place at ports in Guangdong province. My argument is that we must raise vaccination rates in […]
Container freight crisis could continue until or unless the developing world is fully vaccinated
By John Richardson IF YOU WANT to understand when container-freight chaos will fully come to an end, look at the graphic above from Our World in Data, the fantastic free service set up to fight poverty, disease, hunger, pollution and the world’s other ills with the power of numbers. What you can see is the […]
Inflation pressures build on prolonged supply chain disruptions
By John Richardson OK, I MAY have got this wrong. Inflation could be a bigger problem than I envisaged only three weeks ago. But if so, I would at least be in exalted company. A meeting of the US Federal Reserve concluded that generalised inflation was not a concern, and that “finished goods have not […]
The supply-chain inflation threat to petrochemicals demand
By John Richardson and Fergus Jensen (ICIS market reporter, European isocyanates and styrene) CONTAINER FREIGHT space will remain in short supply until Q4 this year, said the Maersk chief executive, confirming earlier analysis by Drewry Consulting. Global supply chains are also stressed by shortages of everything from semiconductors to wooden pallets, metal drums and tin […]
Environmental crises: no “silver bullet” solution but petchems must get this right
By John Richardson NO one-size-fits-all technological solution to the climate change and plastic waste crises is likely to work. What we will instead very probably see is a patchwork of solutions across regions and countries. This will be combined with what I believe must be common global regulatory approaches that everyone adheres to. I cannot […]
China PP and styrene Q1 apparent demand seems to indicate slowdown
By John Richardson WE MUST BE careful here. If 2020 taught is anything, it is that China has the capability of stunning everybody with the speed of its economic growth, even against a backdrop of a much slower global economy. Few people imagined, including myself, that in the dark days of March last year, China […]
China’s environmental policies: scenarios essential for impact on local and global petrochemicals
By John Richardson WE MUST develop very nuanced, broad ranging and constantly updated scenarios about what could happen in China over the next 20 years. Special scenario teams need to be set up by petrochemicals companies that focus only on China because the country will remain by far the most important petrochemicals market. China will […]