By Malini Hariharan On a day when Asian stock markets tumbled on fresh worries about Europe’s debt problems and a wider economic slowdown, it was not surprising to read about the downbeat mood at this year’s European Petrochemical Association’s (EPCA) meeting in Berlin. Reports by the blog’s colleagues on ICIS news indicate that economic concerns […]
Asian Chemical Connections
Constant Search For Feedstock Advantage
By John Richardson AROUND $6bn worth of proposed petrochemical investments in Kazakhstan – the giant central Asian country with abundant oil and gas reserves – once again confirms the three most important factors for success: Feedstock, feedstock and feedstock. “The gas that will supply these projects is sufficiently advantaged to overcome major construction and logistics […]
China H2 GDP Growth Only 5%
By John Richardson CHINA’S economy would only expand by 5% in H2 of this year and in the first half of 2012 on an annualised basis, said Diana Choyleva, a Hong Kong-based economist for Lombard Street Research. This was the result of credit tightening as China continued to battle inflation and a slump in export orders for manufactured goods on […]
A Dramatic Difference In Mood
By John Richardson THE big difference in the mood at the ground level of certain parts of the petrochemicals industry compared with that of company board members and investors was thrown into further stark relief earlier this week. As we discussed on Tuesday, the big polyolefins sector of this industry continues to struggle in China. Growth […]
The Fear Factor Dominates
By John Richardson EVERYWHERE you turn it is bad as fear over the future dominates the mood of polyolefin producers and buyers. Aversion to risk seems to have increased because of the concern that this could be September 2008 all over again. Hand-to-mouth buying is the norm as no purchasing manager who values his or […]
Middle East Still Confident For Now
By John Richardson Confidence among Middle Eastern petrochemical producers remains high because they obviously now that as long as oil prices do not collapse they will continue to make excellent money, said a chemicals analyst. The blog believes that there is a very strong chance that crude will collapse to as little as $25 a […]
Why China PE Demand Will Not Grow In 2011
By John Richardson THE blog hears that some industry observers are persisting with the Supercycle theory for petrochemicals based on “decoupling” – i.e. emerging markets will compensate for any new recessions in the West. We find this baffling as evidence points to a lost year of growth in China. The prospects for next year seem […]
Limited Help For China’s SMEs
By John Richardson THE credit crisis that is limiting chemicals and polymer trade in China is continuing, even though local initiatives have been launched to help small and medium-sized enterprise (SMEs) with the central government indicating that more help could be on the way. As we have discussed before on the blog, the trade finance crisis […]
This Is Not Merely A Rough Patch
By John Richardson IT was interesting to read late last week about how certain chemicals analysts still believe that the big slump in the sector’s share prices might merely be a rough patch, possibly just a correction. In this same excellent piece from my colleague Nigel Davis, Citi US chemicals analyst PJ Jukevar talks about how […]
Demand Weakness Dominates
By John Richardson A CAREFUL reading of all the major ICIS pricing reports covering olefins, polyolefins, aromatics and their derivatives over the last few weeks reveals very few mentions of the phrase “peak demand season”. This time last year, the reports were full of references to the seasonal surge in production of finished goods in […]
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