US PE contract pricesBy John Richardson THE American Chemistry Council’s Mid-Year Situation and Outlook Report, which was released this week, helps explain the background to the weakness in demand seen in the US polyethylene (PE) market. What goes for PE will, of course, apply to the rest of the US petrochemicals business. In the case […]
Asian Chemical Connections
Chemicals In A Vicious Cycle
By John Richardson OIL prices could fall to as low as $35-40 a barrel or might slip no further than $60-70 a barrel, depending on which analyst you belief. And we know of one global polyolefins company that is working on the assumption that crude, both West Texas Intermediate and Brent, will trade […]
Northeast Asia PE Weakest Margins
Source: ICIS pricing Weekly Asian PE Margin Report By John Richardson The slide above shows how Northeast Asian naphtha-based polyethylene (PE) producers are struggling as a result of the weak China market (dark blue bars). And it confirms what we were discussing yesterday: The US, with its ethane advantage and with reportedly high […]
Greek Election Results Change Nothing
By John Richardson HOW long will the relief rally last in oil and equity markets following the Greek election results? Sadly, the answer is not long, because difficult discussions lay ahead for the New Democracy party as it tries to form a government. Greece, also, remains broke and so the Euro crisis is far from […]
Cotton In Uncharted Territory
By John Richardson POLYESTER producers, and their raw-material suppliers, enjoyed a huge boost to their profitability between October 2008 and March 2011 when cotton prices increased by 468 percent from 40 cents/lb to $2.27/lb. This led to polyester being substituted for cotton, and helped inspire a big capacity build in purified terepthalic acid […]
US-China Trade Disputes Threat
By John Richardson CHINA’S 15.3 percent increase in exports in May, far greater than most analysts had expected, is being interpreted as a sign of the country’s enduring economic strength. This is certainly good news for China amidst all the other negative news. But to what extent is it good news for the US, the […]
Not “Business As Usual”
By John Richardson THE notion that Asian polyethylene (PE) markets would soon bottom out, which was widely expressed at the Asia Petrochemical Industry Conference (APIC) last month, seems to have been discredited. There was a slight recovery for the week ending 1 June, when prices had crept up by $10-20/tonne on improved confidence amongst […]
Fibre Intermediates In Panic
By John Richardson A SENSE of panic has gripped the fibre intermediates chain as a result of falling crude oil prices, an industry observer told the blog. “Nobody knows where the bottom of the market will be, which, to me, feels a great deal like the crisis in late 2008,” he said, “Prices are in […]
Chem Companies Face Funding Crisis
By John Richardson A collapse in the price of oil would expose petrochemicals producers, buyers and traders who have built- up stocks. They built up inventories because oil was on the way up earlier this year. And they were also encouraged to stock-up because of more confidence over the Eurozone, relative to Q4 last […]
BASF Highlights Changes In Growth
Martin Brudermüller Source of picture: BASF By John Richardson “THE struggle over China’s future direction seems to be harder fought than we had imagined,” said BASF vice chairman Martin Brudermüller last Thursday, in a German newspaper interview. “There are very intensive discussions being held in China about the direction the country should take. […]
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