By John Richardson THERE used to be two certainties in life that everyone in Australia could depend on. We all know that the first certainty was, and sadly still is, death. But the second certainty was China acting as the “bankroller” of the Australian economy. This has all but vanished since late 2013. The second […]
Asian Chemical Connections
How 3D Printing Means No Repeat Of China’s Growth Story
By John Richardson AS you can see from the above chart, China’s percentage share of the global polypropylene (PP) market has risen from 15% of consumption in 2000 to 33% in 2014. During the same period, however, India’s share of worldwide consumption only rose from 7% to 9%. This kind of chart is used as […]
Just “Black Swans” That We Can’t Predict? Nonsense
By John Richardson HERE is a list of just a few recent what were are told were “Black Swan” events: The Lehman Bros-triggered global financial crisis. China’s 2008-2013 economic stimulus package. Last year’s collapse in oil prices. China’s economic and environmental about turn. We are also told because these were Black Swans – freak events […]
Following In The Footsteps Of China Is Impossible
By John Richardson THE chart above shows how China’s consumption of polypropylene (PP) rose from 4.6 million tonnes in 2000 to 19 million tonnes in 2014. It also illustrates how, in the process, China’s percentage share of global PP consumption jumped from 15% in 2000 to 32% in 2014. Meanwhile, imports also rose during the […]
China Jobs Squeeze: Why It Is Happening And What It Means
Jobs, jobs and jobs are the three main priorities for politicians everywhere. In the first of my series of country and region-specific posts on this subject, I look at what this means for China. By John Richardson SOME of those who thought that China’s investment-led growth was a sound long-term way forward are now saying: […]
Africa: How To Seize Another Opportunity
By John Richardson WHEN you’ve finished renegotiating with your lenders, your shareholders and your bondholders about what the collapse of oil prices means for your chemicals company, you will, hopefully, have a strategy to come through this crisis more or less in one piece. The next stage is, of course, the implementation of the new […]
Creating Sustainable Chemicals Growth In 2015
By John Richardson AS just about everyone, including me, obsesses about the more than 40% collapse in oil prices and what it means for the chemicals industry, here is another statistic for you: 58,000 newborns die in India every year because they come into this dysfunctional world with bacterial infections resistant to antibiotics. The root […]
Getting Started On Rebuilding Your Company Strategy
By John Richardson THE New Normal is a journey of discovery, as my colleague Paul Hodges pointed out in his blog post yesterday. As this latest global economic crisis develops, it is vital that we start the journey otherwise many of us will end up out of work. Some chemicals companies will simply not survive […]
US Petrochemicals: The Way Forward
By John Richardson ANYBODY out there prepared to make a guess? How long are these fantastic earnings for US petrochemicals companies in the key polyolefins space going to last? Six months, 12 months, 18 months or perhaps even longer? The question then becomes how financial analysts, investors, stock markets and therefore companies will respond when […]
Want Oil Prices Back At Above $1OO? Be Careful What You Wish For
By John Richardson WE worry that quite a few people still don’t get it on crude oil. Here is why: As recently as July, as the chart above from the latest BP Energy Review shows, oil prices were from 2009 until July of last year were close to costing 5% of global GDP. At this […]
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