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Asian Chemical Connections

China lends guiding hand to futures markets

The Chinese government appears to have an important objective to achieve while promoting commodity futures trading in the country? A report in today’s Wall Street Journal says that the government is positioning its futures markets in setting world prices for metal, energy and farm commodities. Jiang Yang, chief futures industry policy maker and assistant chairman […]

We are heading for $45 a barrel crude this year

SWIMMING IN OIL?   Source of Picture: fashionfunky.com     The threat posed by Iran test-firing its Shahab-3 missiles and a rally in US equities on increased M& activity in the drug and technology industries pushed crude slightly higher yesterday after last week’s steep declines. This is yet further evidence that the oil market is […]

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 […]

China’s consumption growth challenge

“China, please please do what we did and spend what you might not be able to afford…” Source of picture: The Daily Maily Whether or not China’s pace of economic recovery will be maintained would have become an intensely boring topic of discussion if it wasn’t so important for all our livelihoods. More data specific […]

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 […]

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 […]

“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 – […]

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 […]

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