The new chapter of our free ‘Boom, Gloom and the New Normal’ ebook sets out a road map to success for companies in the New Normal. It also identifies 5 key areas where major change is already underway. Demand-driven. Markets have essentially been supply-driven in recent decades, with growth being forecast on the basis of […]
Asian Chemical Connections
The China Shale Gas Risk
By John Richardson FIVE years ago everybody had written-off the US petrochemicals industry, but now the industry is incredibly gung-ho, thanks to shale gas – even if the issue of demand is somewhat more problematic. In five years time, might the world once again look a very different place as a result of shale gas […]
Europe’s “Recovery” Falters
By John Richardson THE mood in European ethylene and polyethylene (PE) markets has changed over the last two weeks, according to my ICIS pricing colleagues, Nel Weddle and Linda Naylor. “A drop in crude oil and naphtha values saw speculation over a decrease for the May (ethylene) contract build this week,” wrote Nel last Friday. […]
A Polyolefin Trader’s Perspective
By John Richardson Word for word, see below what an Asian polyolefins trader told us yesterday: “This year has been absolutely terrible, the worst I can remember in eight years in this business, and even worse than 2008. There is just no demand out there. “There was supposed to be a recovery after the Chinese […]
Confidence And Petrochemicals
By John Richardson CONFIDENCE is a strange thing. It can be derived from solid reasons for optimism over the future or from temporary factors that can rapidly disappear. And what is the value of publicly-expressed confidence? Is it often politically motivated rather than being based on the genuine belief that the future holds tremendous promise? […]
New Policies Needed To Restore Growth
Politicians seem to be floundering as they seek to restore growth to the Western economy. Their prescriptions swing between austerity and economic stimulus as they argue over what has gone wrong. But in chapter 10 of our Boom, Gloom & The New Normal e-book we argue that they are on the wrong track. They are […]
The Butadiene Rollercoaster
By John Richardson The remarkable rollercoaster that is butadiene, and its derivatives, continues. Although the synthetic rubber market for tyres in China appears to be strengthening, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) remains under pressure. And, in a reflection of what is a structurally extremely tight market for butadiene, LG Chem is talking about further reducing operating […]
China Synthetic Fibres Fall Further
By John Richardson CHINA’S synthetic fibres chain continues to show serious signs of distress as a result of weak domestic and export demand, according to my ICIS colleagues, Judith Wang and Becky Zhang. Traders in monoethylene glycol (MEG) must have believed the theory that petrochemicals demand growth in general would be strong, as inventory levels in Chinese ports […]
Inventories And Price Recoveries
By John Richardson THE role of inventory management in European petrochemical price recoveries needs to be re-examined, given persistently weak underlying economic fundamentals. In Europe, as this ICIS Insight article from my colleague Mark Victory points out, benzene contract prices have risen by 40%, propylene contracts have increased by 20% and ethylene contract prices by 21 […]
HDPE Premium Likely To Fade
By Malini Hariharan High density polyethylene’s (HDPE) premium over linear low density PE (LLDPE) is likely disappear in the second quarter reversing a trend that has lasted for nearly a year. LLDPE supply is getting tighter with few capacity additions due this year. Additionally plant turnarounds in Asia and the Middle East are also likely […]
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