By John Richardson THE article of faith publicly expressed at last week’s Asia Petrochemical Industry Conference (APIC) in Fukuoka, Japan, was that the current problems with demand in China and India were only temporary. Discussions the blog held were packed with the conventional wisdom that not enough capacity would be built over the next few […]
Asian Chemical Connections
23 Mentions Of China Downturn At APIC
By John Richardson THE blog attended the Asia Pacific Petrochemical Conference (APIC) in Fukuoka, Japan, today during which it heard mention of the phrase “China downturn” on 23 occasions from different contacts. Confidence is clearly at a lower than last year than at APIC in Mumbai, when all the talk was about delayed introduction of […]
Supply Constraints Should Mean A Healthy China
By John Richardson THE extent of the weakness in China ‘s polyolefins market has become more apparent as a result of reports that a much-anticipated increase in Middle East production hasn’t happened. Back in February, oil production in Saudi Arabia had been raised to 8.9m barrels a day from around 8.5m barrels in January, a […]
Middle East Petchem Producers Feel China Slowdown
By John Richardson MORE evidence has emerged of a slowdown in demand for polyolefins in China following the sharp decline in March imports. The Middle East is now feeling the pinch as a result of the impact of inflation and the reduced availability of credit. “I visited a propane dehydrogenation (PDH)-to-polypropylene (PP) producer in Saudi Arabia last week. The […]
The False Promise Of US Petrochemicals?
By John Richardson THE remarkable shift in the competitive landscape of petrochemicals resulting from shale gas was highlighted yesterday in an excellent post by our fellow blogger, Paul Hodges. Drawing on data from the NPRA, with analysis from the ICIS data and analytics team and Bob Townsend of International e-Chem, Paul shows the steep rise in ethane […]
One piece at a time
By Malini Hariharan Yesterday’s announcement by Asahi Kasei, Sabic and Mitsubishi Chemical of a joint-venture acrylonitrile (AN) project in Saudi Arabia fills up one more slot in the kingdom’s petrochemical value chain and supports the move downstream. Sceptics might question the viability of this strategy but Saudi companies are slowly pressing ahead. Mohammed Al-Mady, Sabic’s […]
Butadiene – will the good times last?
By Malini Hariharan A question that every butadiene buyer has been asking for a long time is when will prices ease? There are no signs yet although buyers are threatening to cut production. Butadiene rose by more than $200/tonne last week to $3,080-3,120/tonne CFR Northeast Asia, reports my colleague Helen Yan on ICIS news. Prices […]
China Inflation Impact On Chemicals
By John Richardson POLYETHYLENE (PE) prices were assessed stable-to-weaker by my colleagues at ICIS pricing late last week as Sinopec was reported to be evaluating a 10% reduction in operating rates. Sinopec hardly ever cuts production on market conditions as its main objective is not to make a profit, but rather serve local manufacturing industry […]
Growing Uncertainties Cloud Chemicals Outlook
By John Richardson THE global growth outlook grows ever murkier as a result of credit tightening in China (or is the problem instead continued strong growth in lending?), inflation problems throughout Asia, possible monetary tightening in the West, the direction of oil prices and the Japanese tsunami-earthquake. We feel that this is making the rest […]
NPRA highlights: Chevron Philips, Nova, Sabic and MEG
By Malini Hariharan The blog has been reading some more interesting reports filed by ICIS colleagues from the International Petrochemical Conference at San Antonio, US. The conference, hosted by the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association (NPRA) concluded yesterday. * Chevron Philip Chemical’s announcement of a a feasibility study on a ethane cracker at an existing […]
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