By John Richardson THE possibility that China’s economy may not expand as rapidly in the future as in the past is never discussed in public by resources-company CEOs, said an Australian-based stockbroker. His comments ring true for petrochemicals, also. The blog is struggling to find a senior executive willing to discuss this possibility on the […]
Asian Chemical Connections
Polyolefins And China Real Estate
By John Richardson SOME polyolefin companies continue to present an optimistic picture of markets to investors. They point to positive factors such as renewed economic stimulus in China and a recovery in auto production in Thailand following last year’s floods. But, as we said yesterday, those involved in the day-to-day grind of trying to […]
MEG Continues To Struggle
By John Richardson THE above chart is a further illustration of what we believe is the wrong consensus view over China. Q1 2012 mono-ethylene glycol (MEG) imports surged by 30% compared with the same period last year, as traders bet on a sharp rebound in China’s economy. They believed all the talk of more local […]
The China Shale Gas Risk
By John Richardson FIVE years ago everybody had written-off the US petrochemicals industry, but now the industry is incredibly gung-ho, thanks to shale gas – even if the issue of demand is somewhat more problematic. In five years time, might the world once again look a very different place as a result of shale gas […]
MEG’s Fading Star
By John Richardson CHINA’S mono-ethylene (MEG) market was supposed to be very strong this year. But instead, to date we have seen persistently weak market conditions that few people, least of all the traders, seem to have anticipated. The traders appear to have been taken in by the hype and booked cargoes for delivery […]
A Tough Q2 For The US
By John Richardson THE hard numbers, in the chart above, support anecdotal evidence we have been picking up for over a month of increased Asian polyethylene (PE) exports to Brazil and other Latin American countries. It also confirms reports that Middle East producers are raising shipments to the region. This includes one major player […]
Threat of Oil “Permafrost”
By John Richardson Saudi Arabian oil minister Ali al-Naimi on Tuesday did his best to calm the oil markets by arguing that the kingdom had met all its customers’ requests for crude, and was ready to raise output to full capacity of 12.5m barrels a day. “My only mission is to convey to you that […]
Depressed China Demand Continues
By John Richardson ANOTHER week and sadly a repeat of the same old story: Depressed polyolefins demand in China. Pricing did, however, increase – by $10-50/tonne in the case of polyethylene (PE) and $10-40/tonne for polypropylene (PP), according to assessments by ICIS pricing for the week ending 16 March. But our colleagues at ICIS […]
Oil Prices And Demand Destruction
By John Richardson THE danger that high oil prices pose to the global economy, and therefore, of course, petrochemicals demand, has been highlighted by a new report from HSBC. It makes the point that quantitative easing, which has led to investors fleeing a weaker dollar into commodities, is a major contributory factor behind the rally […]
India Chems Look For Govt Support
By Malini Hariharan The Indian government is being asked to give a fresh boost to the chemicals industry in the 12th Five Year Plan beginning from 1 April. A working group for the chemicals industry has detailed key measures that the government must take to ensure growth of 12% during the plan period (2012-2017). Top […]
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