By Malini Hariharan The International Energy Agency (IEA) has once again trimmed its oil demand forecast for 2011. And rising fears of a sustained global economic slowdown have also prompted the agency to cut the forecast for 2012. The IEA made it clear that expectations of ‘business-as-usual’ 4.5-5% global GDP growth were unsustainable. It cut […]
Asian Chemical Connections
MEG bucks the trend
By Malini Hariharan There are some exceptions to the generally weak petrochemical markets seen in Asia these days and monoethylene glycol (MEG) is one such product. Spot prices have hit a 44-month high of $1,275-1,280/tonne CFR China and are expected to soon cross $1,300/tonne, close to levels last seen in January 2008, reports Judith Wang, […]
Glass half full or half empty?
By Malini Hariharan Despite a bleak global economic environment in the near term and uncertainty on how deep the next crisis will be chemical industry executives appear to be remarkably bullish about future prospects as is evident in KPMG’s latest industry survey. Eighty five per cent of the 142 senior chemical industry executives surveyed in […]
China Inflation Pressure Mounts
By Malini Hariharan The Chinese government’s efforts to control inflation are showing no signs of yielding results. The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) admitted yesterday that the government was finding it difficult to achieve its full-year inflation target of below 4%. It cited high global commodity prices as a major factor driving up local production […]
Rocky road ahead
By Malini Hariharan Asian polyolefin producers confront yet another challenging week. The macro environment suggests that implementing price hikes for September cargoes will be difficult. Stock markets around the world continue to be jittery with concerns about a US recession and debt problems in Europe still in the forefront. Support from oil also appears uncertain. […]
Yet another week of price corrections
By Malini Hariharan Asian petrochemical markets continue to face downward pressure on concerns about the health of the global economy. Market sentiment for most products remains poor with buyers in no rush to resume purchases. Polyolefin markets closed last week on a weak note. Prices of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and polypropylene (PP) dropped $10-40/tonne last […]
Towards a New Normal, not a new Supercycle
GDP growth figures in Europe and the USA have shown virtually no growth in Q2, whilst China is clearly also slowing fast. It is hard to believe that even today, some analysts are still arguing that a new Supercycle is now underway. The blog remains convinced that we are in transition to a New Normal, […]
US Fed policy may be going Back to the Future
by Paul Hodges Today’s 419 point fall on the Dow Jones Average, and $6/bbl fall in WTI crude oil prices, may not be just another example of the wild volatility that has come to seem normal in financial markets. It may also mark the end of an era. Since 1994, the US Federal Reserve has […]
Wal-Mart sends a message
by Paul Hodges The blog is a great believer in the predictive power of the retail sector. Wal-Mart and Tesco were the first to spot the downturn in the summer of 2007, a year before it became obvious to everyone else. Now Wal-Mart’s problems are providing some important messages about how companies need to adjust […]
Q2 setback for Korea
By Malini Hariharan The margin pain experienced in Asia in the last quarter is clearly evident in the recently released results by South Korean majors Honam Petrochemical and LG Chem. Honam’s operating profit for Q2 declined 36.8% from the previous quarter to Won36.1bn. LG Chem’s operating profit was down 7.2% at Won775.4bn while its petrochemical […]
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