General Motors, Dalian Commodity Exchange, China self-sufficiency, US-Asia exports
Asian Chemical Connections
If manufacturers started buying up their suppliers….
This excellent article from The Economist about vertical integration got me thinking that if, say, auto makers start buying up parts suppliers in developed markets (in developing markets the plastics processing industry is too fragmented) we could end up facing a whole new set of industry dynamics. Buying up your supplier, or at least offering […]
Alice In Wonderland economics
China appears to be pumping money into ailing companies for social stability reasons, resulting in a build-up in inventory of unsold finished goods. Anecdotal evidence from ICIS pricing, and analysis by JP Morgan Asset Management and the China Economic Quarterly supports this view. Comparatively stronger exports to China, as my fellow blogger Paul Hodges points […]
Trade protectionism on the rise
antidumping petitions, trade protection, WTO applied and bound tariff rates
Short-term gain could equal long-term pain
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….
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 […]
Go to the bottom of the class and stay there
financial rescue package, financial meltdown, idiotic financiers, corporate greed
How to make money in a downturn Part 1
John Cusack, Kate Beckinsale, antidumping petitions, trade protection, living in cloud cuckoo land
It’s tough at the top…….
It’s easy to take pot shots at the boss, and everyone of course feels they have been underpromoted and could do the job better themselves. Andrew Liveris is just the latest in a long line of CEOs to experience both envy – and at the moment perhaps a little pleasure at their failures. The gloating […]
Chem engineers back with avengeance
chemical engineers, financial meltdown, Nigel Davis, inventory management, H2 2009 recovery
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