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Asian Chemical Connections

More evidence of China’s export rebound

Source of picture: Businesweek   More evidence is emerging of the big rebound in Chinese exports resulting from government subsidies, including a Yuan now pegged to the dollar, soft and plentiful bank loans and export-tax rebates. More than 9,000 quality control inspections of goods set for overseas shipment took place in Q3 this year – […]

China Sept chemical import-surge data

More of the cheap stuff? Source of picture: www.thelocal.de   Some of the China import data for September is now available – showing record-high imports of monoethylene glycol (MEG), ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA), polyacetal, polycarbonate (PC). “I have given up trying to figure this out. There is not sufficient accurate information anywhere to read a […]

China’s chemical imports up – again!

By John Richardson We don’t have the actual data yet (hopefully, we’ll be able to give you the numbers later this week), but…… ……China’s commodity chemicals and polymer imports “continued to amaze” in September with monoethylene glycol (MEG) shipments hitting an all-time high, said Jean Sudol, president of US-based International Trader Publications Inc (ITP). “Imports […]

China Export Gains Raise Sustainability Fears

  Source of picture: www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23512037/     CHINA is making export gains at the expense of other higher-cost competitors that might not be sustainable because of reasons including rising trade protectionism and economic rebalancing. Chemical companies need to factor in this risk – and take into account how overall demand might merely be shifting location […]

Falling China license plates a lead indicator?

Source of picture: Chinaenvironmentallaw.com Talk around the water-cooler in Shanghai offices at the moment is the fall in the cost of a car-license plate in September to a lowest bid of Yuan 27,000 ($3,953) from around Yuan 36,000 in August. “It surprised everyone because the forecast had been for the price to actually go up […]

Benzene the barometer?

Source of picture: Wikipedia Because benzene has so many end-uses it’s widely seen as a pretty good barometer for the overall health of the industry. As C6 led the recovery last time are recent declines a sign of another broad-based retreat? See the slide below: View image Or is it more the problems we highlighted […]

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 […]

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 […]

What I Want To Know in H2 – Part Two

Garbage out, garbage in Source of Picture: The Daily Telegraph Here goes for the second part of this series. Is there anybody out there who can help? How will the ongoing availability of recycled material affect the pricing power of virgin resins? (We have the data to show that imports of scrap polyethylene (PE) and […]

PTA futures growing in influence?

Source of picture: 1st-commoditytrading.us It’s only one comment from one consultant, but this is what he said today about the growing role of the Zhenghou Commodity Exchange‘s purified terephthalic acid (PTA) futures contract. “PTA futures have been exerting a huge impact on spot pricing starting 2H July. “We haven’t seen any increase in physical demand […]

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