Source of picture: http://www.infiniteunknown.net/ By John Richardson CORE consumer prices in the US declined for the first time in December since 1982, according to the latest American Chemistry Council (ACC) Weekl;y Chemistry and Economic Trends report. And the ACC’s latest monthly set of forecasts – compiled through averaging the predictions of “a […]
Asian Chemical Connections
The Dangers of Forgetfulness
By John Richardson “IF YOU want to develop a good memory, you should learn to stop xxxxxxx forgetting, you brain-dead idiot” a former editor of mine often said, in his charming Glaswegian accent, after I had made the same mistake yet again. The same might apply to petrochemicals where maybe, just maybe, shutting down capacity […]
Optimism as China returns
By Malini Hariharan The China market appears to have started the year of the tiger on a strong note. We are not yet hearing a roar but at least it is not a whimper. Pic source: Xinhua A polyolefin market participant says that traders have started making enquiries after the Lunar New Year holidays. End-users […]
Asian Aromatics Crawl Towards Post-Chinese New Year
A roar or a whimper? Source of picture: http://break4fun.zarke.net By John Richardson THE ASIAN aromatics market has had “both its legs chopped off below the knees, and has also had its proverbial hands broken,” said an Asian-based petrochemicals consultant today. “As a result, we are crawling in a great deal of pain towards what […]
China Polyolefin Inventories Surge
A post-Chinese New Year dream…. Source of picture: http://www.scsa.net.au/ By John Richardson The large amount of polyolefins delivered to China over the past few months is causing further head-scratching and anxiety among producers and traders. One view, well rehearsed previously on this blog, is that this is further evidence of a speculative bubble […]
Is China Targeting Polyolefin Re-export Market?
By John Richardson MORE evidence that China will not remain as easy a sink for surplus polyolefin volumes – especially in the case of the higher-cost importers – is emerging. “There are plans to open a bonded warehouse in Guangdong province to sell RMB material converted into US dollar product,” a Singapore-based polyolefin trader told me […]
The Indian growth story – part 2
By Malini Hariharan A few weeks back I had written about robust demand growth figures emerging from the Indian polymer market. I will be posting some numbers over the next few days but ahead of that I would like to highlight what industry players have been saying on the major growth drivers and also developments […]
Asian Polyolefin Trade Slows on Free-Trade Muddle
By John Richardson Polyolefin shipments have been held up in ports by lack of awareness among customs officers at some ports in Southeast Asia over how to implement new free-trade deals, an industry source told us. It seems highly likely that the same applies to other chemicals and polymer cargoes. The Association of Southeast Asian […]
Douple-dip Appears To Have Begun
By John Richardson The start of the next dip in what this blog has long thought would be a double-dip economic crisis looks as if it could have begun. If not now, it’s going to happen at some point because of major global imbalances. What’s worrying right now is the combination of: *Potentially weaker demand […]
Benzene: What Lies Beneath
A Ring of Truth? Source of picture: http://web.pdx.edu/~nathanh/benzene/benzene2.gif By John Richardson TUMBLING Asian benzene prices are being blamed on weaker crude, itself a reflection of macro-economic worries over higher-than-expected US jobless figures, government debt problems in the Euro zone and tighter credit in China. “It’s not a question of whether, but when the secon dip […]
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