The failure, and quite possibly the death, of the Doha round of trade negotiations earlier this week could create a very confusing and erratic regulatory landscape for the chemicals industry. This excellent entry in the New Scientist environment blog by Fred Pearce, senior environment correspondent, makes the point that if the world cannot agree on […]
Asian Chemical Connections
Market mind reading
Regular readers of my blog might have seen last week’s post linking through to the New Scientist article about research into new ways of assessing how markets behave. Prompted by the irrationally steep falls triggered by the credit crisis (or maybe they were reverse – the previous high valuations were based on irrationality, leading to […]
Missing the point
Great that my entry yesterday Work can be the death of you produced a response. But I think the commentator missed the point. Working long hours is not an issue for staff who are properly managed and motivated. The “presenteeism” of some work cultures, though, is surely a major source of concern for the welfare […]
Does your boss listen to you?
Perfect subject if you’ve got the post-weekend blues…. A very irate and tired and emotional chemicals trader was moaning last week about the imposition of a new knowledge-management system by his company. “Our bosses never listen to us and they assume that if they come with a new software solution that we have had no […]
This is unsustainable- crude correction soon
I am beginning to come to the view that something has to give in the medium-term. There is no way that the global economy can support crude prices at current levels, and you can argue, as Lehman Bros does, that speculation is behind a fair slice of the recent rallies. They also make the case […]
History will surely repeat itself
The mood at the recent NPRA International Petrochemical Conference in San Antonio, Texas, was mixed, despite all the economic gloom. Some producers said they were still making money – especially those selling into manufacturing sectors benefiting from a rise in exports due to the weak dollar. What’s certain, of course, though is that things will […]
If I had a dollar for every time………
…….I had heard a company saying it was moving up the value chain (or rather a Euro or a British pound these days), I wouldn’t be writing this blog entry while smelling the wonderful aroma of pork sausages being cooked for my tea. Brown sauce and mash as well, of course. Can Dow Chemical make […]
China growth under severe threat
I could easily be accused of ceaseless pessimism, but growth in China is moderating – regardless of what your view is of the extended article below on the impact of the bad-weather crisis. Slowing exports were already eating into estimates of GDP growth, and these estimates surely what companies can expect in chemical export volumes […]
Here we go again – 1997 is back…..
I sincerely hope not, but all the signs are there because of: *A financial crisis which nobody again saw coming, this time with global implications *What could prove to be too much spending on new equipment and capacity. This time high equity prices have paid for these investments rather than US dollar-denominated bank loans, as […]
How dependent is Chinese growth on the US?
According to this article from The Economist, total China exports account for less than 10% of China’s GDP when “value add” is stripped out – much less than the headline 40% figure for 2007, which includes imported and domestic inputs. Good news as we enter the New Year, given that a US recession now appears […]
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