By Malini Hariharan News is trickling in on Honam Petrochemical‘s plans for Titan Chemicals once it completes the acquisition at the end of the year. A source close to the company said that revamping of Titan’s two crackers have been evaluated including expansion of derivatives and building new downstream units at Titan’s Pasir Gudang complex […]
Asian Chemical Connections
Honam Set For Further Buys After Titan Deal
The layout of the Pasir Gudang complex Source of picture: Titan Chemicals By John Richardson and Malini Hariharan HONAM Petrochemical’s plan to buy Malaysia’s Titan Chemicals for $1.5bn – which was announced today – is likely to be followed by further buys, including a refiner, an industry observer has told the blog. “I am […]
Crunch time for Asian polyolefins
By Malini Hariharan August could well be the time for some tough decisions by Asian polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) producers. Demand has languished for the last three months and although many are hoping for a recovery at the end of this month or in early August, there are as yet no signs of this. […]
India set to announce final ADD on PP
By Malini Hariharan India’s long-running investigation into dumping of polypropylene (PP) from Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Oman is inching to a close. Final anti-dumping duties (ADD) are expected to be announced soon, say industry sources. Affected producers have made their case but are unlikely to escape from ADD. Provisional duties, ranging from $44.40 to $1033.65/tonne, […]
Old Assumptions Might Belatedly Change
Source of picture: http://www.andrewgriffithsblog.com/ By John Richardson DOOM-MONGERS are scratching their heads as to why the global petrochemicals industry has remained in such a healthy state over the past 18 months. Old assumptions are, as a result, being challenged. It would be a painful irony if these assumptions are changed just as a […]
Action in the propylene market
By Malini Hariharan Just when Asian propylene prices started easing comes news of disruptions in production and price hikes in the West. Propylene availability in Europe was hit after a strike by Total’s refinery workers early in the week resulted in the closure of 36% of France’s C3 capacity. This forced Total to declare force […]
Optimism as China returns
By Malini Hariharan The China market appears to have started the year of the tiger on a strong note. We are not yet hearing a roar but at least it is not a whimper. Pic source: Xinhua A polyolefin market participant says that traders have started making enquiries after the Lunar New Year holidays. End-users […]
India to investigate PP imports from Korea, Taiwan and the US
By Malini Hariharan India will soon initiate an anti-dumping investigation into polypropylene (PP) imports from South Korea, Taiwan and the US. This follows an application made by Indian PP producers last year. A couple of market sources have forwarded the letter that has been issued to the embassies of the three countries and a government […]
Is China Targeting Polyolefin Re-export Market?
By John Richardson MORE evidence that China will not remain as easy a sink for surplus polyolefin volumes – especially in the case of the higher-cost importers – is emerging. “There are plans to open a bonded warehouse in Guangdong province to sell RMB material converted into US dollar product,” a Singapore-based polyolefin trader told me […]
SK moving to China?
South Korean producers have for long been dependent on the Chinese market to absorb a large percentage of their output. So it is perhaps not surprising to read that SK Energy plans to move the headquarters of its chemicals division to China. It is also said to be looking at hiving off the chemicals business […]
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