By Malini Hariharan (Malini is now joint blogger for Asian Chemical Connections) China’s immense appetite this year for all petrochemicals has been puzzling many of us. This blog has been regularly asking questions and some answeres for the polyester and PTA markets were provided by YJ Kim of PCI Xylenes & Polyesters at the Indian […]
Asian Chemical Connections
Reliance-LyondellBasell talks resurface
By Malini Hariharan (Malini is now joint blogger for Asian Chemical Connections) Talk of Reliance Industries acquiring LyondellBasell is once again gaining momentum. A report in today’s Economic Times says that the company is close to announcing a major overseas acquisition with the target being part of the assets of LyondellBasell. The announcement is likely […]
A fight to the finish
By Malini Hariharan (Malini is now joint blogger for Asian Chemical Connections) The Indian government has announced 17 November as the date for a public hearing to discuss the provisional anti dumping duties that it had imposed in June on imports of polypropylene (PP) from Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Oman. The hearing will give a […]
Time to look inward
By Malini Hariharan (Malini is now joint blogger for Asian Chemical Connections) It pays to have a domestic focus and Reliance Industries has shown this again in its results for the first half of fiscal 2009-10. Its petrochemicals division delivered Rs43bn in earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT), a 23.8% growth over the same period […]
Caution is the name of the game
By Malini Hariharan (Malini is now joint blogger for Asian Chemical Connections) Japanese chemical majors have raised their sales and profit forecasts for the second half of the fiscal year ending 31 March 2010, but the revisions are marginal and companies are still holding a conservative outlook. Earnings in the first half of this fiscal […]
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 – […]
A fresh vote of confidence for the DCE
By Malini Hariharan (Malini is now joint blogger for Asian Chemical Connections) It helps to have a commodity bull on your side and that’s just what the Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) has succeeded in doing. Jim Rogers, the noted investment guru, will be a senior advisor to the exchange. Jim Rogers is, as always, positive […]
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 […]
China indicates monetary tightening
Confused Direction Source of picture: China Daily A TIGHTER monetary policy is being evaluated by China’s State Council, one of the country’s most-powerful legislative bodies, according to numerous media reports – including this one from Reuters. And the chairman of China’s sixth-biggest lender was quoted in the Financial Times today as saying that […]
Don’t count on Thai project delays
I have been digging a little deeper into the Map Ta Phut issue and it looks like expectations of major delays to projects at the site were a little premature. Construction has not stopped despite a ruling by Thailand’s Central Administrative Court to stop work on 76 projects at the site. The ruling was directed […]
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