By John Richardson POLYETHYLENE (PE) prices in China fell by $5-10/tonne for the week ending 1 March, according to ICIS pricing. “It is increasingly clear that Chinese growth will slow from the second quarter onwards and this will limit potential recovery for Asia,” say analysts at Credit Agricole. The Shanghai Composite Index dropped 3.7% on […]
Asian Chemical Connections
China NPC Meeting: Quality Over Quantity
China’s National People’s Congress Source of picture: Rex Features By John Richardson The focus of next week’s National People’s Congress (NPC) meeting in China – the country’s annual “parliamentary” meeting – is likely to be on the quality rather than the quantity of growth. This is reflected in the fact that almost half of […]
China’s New Credit Clampdown
By John Richardson BEIJING is clearly getting worried that its politically motivated 2012 economic stimulus programme has damaged the economy. “Just when the world had bought into a Chinese economic recovery, along comes the government throwing proverbial spanners in the works,” writes James Gruber, former fund manager and journalist in his latest Asia Confidential weekly […]
China Coal-To-Olefins Storm In A Teacup?
: Source: NRELC, China Coal Research Institute, HSBC estimates By John Richardson THERE has been a lot of interest in China’s coals-to-olefins (CTO) industry, with arguments that it is a very economically viable method of production. On paper, there is even more capacity due on-stream than in the US as it forges ahead with […]
US LNG Projects Up In The Air
By John Richardson THE US petrochemicals industry is battling hard to block an explosion in liquefied natural gas (LNG) investments that they fear would result in a rise in ethane, propane and butane feedstock costs. Andrew Liveris, CEO of Dow Chemical, raised this issue in December, but the pressure from the industry on legislators responsible […]
China Jan PMIs Tell Different Stories
Source of picture: Imaginechina/Rex Feature By John Richardson ONE can interpret last week’s release of January purchasing manager’s indices for January just about any way you like. Thus, Reuters wrote on 2 February: “China’s official PMI released by the government’s statistics bureau showed factories grew slower-than-expected in January, with a reading of 50.4, easing […]
US Shale Row Flares UP
Sorry for the corny headline; we couldn’t resist it. By John Richardson THE argument that the switch to natural gas from coal and oil is good for the environment has been further undermined by reports earlier this week of the big increase in the amount of gas-flaring in the US. When the blog visited […]
China: The Politics Behind The “Recovery”
By John Richardson THE overall HSBC flash purchasing managers’ index for January, which was released yesterday, was at a two-year high (see the above chart), with the sub-index of production at a 22-month high. This is great news for equity values and commodity prices, including petrochemicals. We might well see a rally in petrochemicals prices at […]
China’s Environmental Balancing Act
A woman wearing a mask looks across the Pudong on 16 January this year Source of picure: Zuma/Rex Features By John Richardson A DISPUTE between state-owned refiners Sinopec and PetroChina and environmental regulators serves as a good example of the difficulties China faces in reforming its growth model. The debate about the environment is […]
Ten Solutions For The Global Economy
By John Richardson LAST week we highlighted how a Boston Consulting Group study has reached many of the same conclusions as our e-book, Boom, Gloom & The New Normal, on the fault lines in the global economy. Similarly, many of the ten solutions suggested in the study are in line with what we think needs […]
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