By Malini Hariharan The latest accident at Formosa Petrochemical Corp’s (FPCC) refinery at Mailiao, Taiwan, on Sunday is adding to the bullish sentiment in markets for key petrochemicals. A fire in the propylene recovery unit has forced the company to close its 540,000 bbls/day refinery and related facilities, including two residual fluid catalytic cracking units […]
Asian Chemical Connections
India Polymers Shine But Questions Persist
By Malini Hariharan Optimism has returned to the Indian polymer market fuelled by a sharp recovery in prices and buying sentiment over the last few weeks across Asia. The talk these days is mainly about tightness in availability of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) and when producers will announce the next price hike. Supply is […]
Cotton corrects; will polyester follow?
By Malini Hariharan After last year’s stunning rise, cotton prices have plunged 53% in the last four months from a 140-year peak of $2.15/lb on 4 March. Prices have fallen 38% in July with cotton for December delivery quoted at 98.63 cents/lb on the Intercontinental Exchange. The swift correction in prices is based on expected […]
Bullish on styrene and benzene
By Malini Hariharan Styrene’s addition by the US to a list of ‘anticipated carcinogens’ does not seem to have affected producers demand growth expectations for the product or for its key feedstock benzene. Speaking at the 5th ICIS Asian Aromatics and Derivatives Conference in Singapore earlier this week, Alexander Farina, Shell Chemical’s general manager for […]
China’s methanol economy
By Malini Hariharan China is well set to take on an even larger role in the global methanol industry. The country already accounts for a little over 40% of demand and its share is set to expand rapidly in the coming years. The blog recently caught up with Ken Yin, the China methanol markets editor […]
Does the industry need more PTA?
By Malini Hariharan The impending oversupply in purified terephthalic acid (PTA) and likely problems in securing feedstock paraxylene (PX) does not seem to have dampened enthusiasm for new investments, Around 10m tonnes of PTA capacity is expected to come on stream from the third quarter of 2011 to late 2012, while another 12.9m tonnes of […]
Methanol stays strong, but for how long?
By Malini Hariharan The doom and gloom affecting many segments of the petrochemical industry has yet to reach methanol. Asian spot prices have been stable since January and have hovered in the $340-350/tonne range during the last three months. Methanol traditionally tracks crude oil prices but the product has been unaffected by the recent slide […]
India polymers slide once again
By Malini Hariharan The messenger’s prediction has turned out to be correct. Indian polymer producers have been forced to reduce domestic prices to match levels seen in the wider Asian market. The week started with a downward revision to polypropylene (PP) prices followed by cuts in prices of low density polyethylene (LDPE), linear low density […]
Don’t shoot the messenger
By Malini Hariharan There is a lot of free price information and advice available to Indian polymer buyers via emails and SMSs. The gist of the messages these days is that the Chinese market is weak, international and domestic prices will fall and buying should be in limited volumes. An email that landed in the […]
Pressure builds up as manufacturing growth slows
By Malini Hariharan Government measures across Asia to ease inflationary pressure are finally yielding results. The latest economic indicators from China and India confirm a loss in manufacturing growth momentum which is likely to put further pressure on troubled polyolefin markets. In China, the official Purchasing Managers Index (PMI), from the China Federation of Logistics, […]
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