Home Blogs Asian Chemical Connections

Asian Chemical Connections

The Threat from Dark Pools

Source of picture: zerohedge.blogspot.com It might seem a little melodramatic (and it’s a wonderfully melodramatic name), but what kind of threat do dark pools – and other off-exchange trading mechanisms – present to all our livelihoods? You can see that the World Federation of Exchanges might have a financial motive in making their complaint to […]

Western Polymers: Get Out Or Get Cleverer?

MOVING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION (SORRY, OUCH….!) Source of Picture: www.autospies.com The automobile industry in the West has been bought more time by economic stimulus, as this article in The Economist points out. But some of the discussions at the Frankfurt International Motor Show, which takes place on 15-27 September, will be about the future […]

Equities, Futures, Sentiment = Recovery?

Forget supply and demand, just record the index cards…. Source of picture: Heatusa.com This amateur pundit is beginning to think he got it very wrong. “I’ve been thinking the same thing – I was as gloomy as you a few months ago,” said an oil-and-gas consultant friend of mine this morning. “The Singapore property market […]

What’s China’s real consumption growth?

Source of picture: millermmccune.com How quickly is China shifting its economy away from exports towards stronger domestic consumption? The answer to this question is, of course, critical to the global chemicals industry. On the surface it looks good: Retail sales grew by 16.6% in the first half of 2009 and by a slightly more modest […]

“Steal a little and they throw you in jail…..

Source of picture: rateyourmusic.com …steal a lot and they make you a King,” wrote the great Bob Dylan in A Sweetheart Like You on his great 1980s album, Infidels. This seems appropriatea as we commemorate exactly 12 months to the day since the West’s financial system imploded. Obama is talking tough on new regulations – […]

West To Exert More Cost Pressures

The US back-to-school buying season Source of Picture: theglobeandmail.com As regular readers will remember, last Friday I linked through to this article from the New York Times on the likelihood of a disappointing back-to-school sales season in the US. I had promised some more thoughts on this article and so here goes…. ……This is a […]

The more you look at the data…..

Deep in the heart of the great wealth gap Source of picture: Blogmlive.com ….the more convincing seems to be the argument that financial and commodity markets have got way ahead of the recovery in the real economy. Take a recent Credit Suisse report, for instance. Its analysis of monthly apparent demand in China, up until […]

China petchem output up, textiles down

The Canton Trade Fair Source of picture: Blawg.lehman.com This interesting article from Bloomberg says that while petrochemical output in China rose in August, textile production actually contracted. We don’t as yet have any breakdown for specific petrochemicals. If the overall increase includes higher aromatics-to-synthetic fibres output then the gamble that the chain has taken on […]

How do Asian cracker operators compete?

Source of Picture: www.autospies.com Not an easy answer and not one much suited to a few paragraphs of blogging. But here’s one thought as the competitive environment becomes a great deal more difficult due to new Middle East capacity and the potential for China to move towards self-sufficiency in polyethylene and polypropylene: Have a chat […]

Even China Polyester Rates Rise

Source of Picture: ChinaMonthlyReview.Org Polyester operating rates in China have started to rise on anticipation that the global economic recovery has arrived, according to Leonard DeGuzman, chemicals consultant with DeWitt & Co. Is this another example of a dangerous price bubble or further proof that we are really emerging from the woods? “The impact of […]

Jump to page: