The layout of the Pasir Gudang complex Source of picture: Titan Chemicals By John Richardson and Malini Hariharan HONAM Petrochemical’s plan to buy Malaysia’s Titan Chemicals for $1.5bn – which was announced today – is likely to be followed by further buys, including a refiner, an industry observer has told the blog. “I am […]
Asian Chemical Connections
China GDP Reduction Spells Tough H2 For Chems
Source of picture: www.en.cn.national By John Richardson THE decline in China’s GDP (gross domestic product) growth from 11.9% in Q1 to 10.3% in the first quarter is, no matter how you try to dress it up, bad news for the chemicals industry. Government officials and some economists are arguing that the moderation is […]
Crunch time for Asian polyolefins
By Malini Hariharan August could well be the time for some tough decisions by Asian polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) producers. Demand has languished for the last three months and although many are hoping for a recovery at the end of this month or in early August, there are as yet no signs of this. […]
India set to announce final ADD on PP
By Malini Hariharan India’s long-running investigation into dumping of polypropylene (PP) from Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Oman is inching to a close. Final anti-dumping duties (ADD) are expected to be announced soon, say industry sources. Affected producers have made their case but are unlikely to escape from ADD. Provisional duties, ranging from $44.40 to $1033.65/tonne, […]
Qatar Petroleum, ExxonMobil Delay Qatar Cracker
By John Richardson Qatar Petroleum and ExxonMobil have delayed the start-up of their 1.6m tonne/year cracker and derivatives project in Qatar, my colleague Anna Jagger reported on ICIS news yesterday – quoting sources familiar with the project. This confirms an earlier media report to this effect – and adds the extra details that start-up of […]
Asian Ethylene, PE Declines Continue
By John Richardson ASIAN ethylene and polyethylene (PE) margins both fell last week – a further indication that the Chinese market remains weak. Bonded warehouses are still full of PE as a result of high imports in March at a time when local production was being ramped up, the blog was told this morning. But […]
Global Chems Outlook: Pockets Of Strength And Weakness
Spain saves the world economy Source of picture: www.fifa.com By John Richardson GLOBAL chemicals sentiment seems to be muddled and confused as the constant flood of positive and negative macro economic data. Take last week’s American Chemistry Council (ACC) weekly report, for example, which at that time gave a clear indication that […]
Iran Petchems Hit By New Sanctions
Source of picture: irantrip1wordpress.com By John Richardson IRAN’S ability to further develop its oil, gas and petrochemicals sectors has received further major blows from new rounds of United Nations and US sanctions. One June 9, the UN approved a fourth round of sanctions on the country, including restrictions on financial transactions, a […]
China Property Sector Dangers Grow
Source of picture: www.chinadigitaltimes.net By John Richardson HOPES for strong China chemicals and polymer demand growth in H2 partly rest on government stimulus money for infrastructure projects compensating for a weakening real-estate sector. Whether its direct consumption of chemicals and polymers, such as the obvious polyvinyl chloride (PVC) – or indirect benefits […]
Mood Becomes Gloomy On Macro Dangers
Dear Readers – here is, hopefully, a hand summary of some of the key themes that have emerged over the past two weeks with some important additional data on imports and inventory levels in China – plus a rather unscientific industry confidence survey. By John Richardson The mood seems to have changed since the […]
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