Graph prepared by the http://www.thegatesnotes.com/Personal/2012-Annual-Letter By John Richardson RISING food prices resulting from adverse weather conditions in the US, South America and Russia represent yet another threat to global economic growth. Grain prices could, for instance, increase by as much as 25 percent this year, warns Danske Bank. Dry weather in the US has […]
Asian Chemical Connections
Energy, Politics & Economics
Source of graph: http://thinkprogress.org/ By John Richardson DANIEL Yergin’s superb book, The Prize, describes how the history of the 20th century was shaped by oil and gas. Now we are entering a new era. Some 600,000 jobs have already been created by the US shale and oil gas revolutions, leading to hopes of […]
The Water Challenge
Source of picture: BBC By John Richardson By 2050, the world’s 10 biggest river basins by population are expected to produce a quarter of global GDP, according to a report commissioned by HSBC, which was released in June. The figure is greater than the combined future economies of the US, Japan and Germany – and […]
Dictating Chemicals Demand
By John Richardson SOME commodity chemicals companies still assume that, if they build new supply, demand will always eventually catch up with supply. The risks of not building new capacities, at times of easy financing and feedstock availability, are also viewed as too great. These include deteriorating economies of scale and loss of […]
APIC: US Feedstock and Asia Optimism
By John Richardson FEEDSTOCK advantages in the US and the continued economic rise of Asia were some of the themes of last week’s Asia Petrochemical Industry Conference (APIC) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Steam crackers are being planned in abundance in the US. As much as 7.65m tonne/year of new ethane-based ethylene capacity could be on-stream […]
A Road Map For Success
The new chapter of our free ‘Boom, Gloom and the New Normal’ ebook sets out a road map to success for companies in the New Normal. It also identifies 5 key areas where major change is already underway. Demand-driven. Markets have essentially been supply-driven in recent decades, with growth being forecast on the basis of […]
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 […]
China’s Changing Demand
By John Richardson THE nature of demand in China is changing, despite the belief among some chemicals analysts, and companies, that everything will soon return to normal. Here is a summary of our key arguments. Please print off and pin to your office, or boardroom, wall for discussion – and let us know if you […]
US Euphoria
By John Richardson THE shale gas advantage, along with the revival of the US economy, made for a euphoric atmosphere at last week’s International Petrochemicals Conference (IPC)* in San Antonio, Texas. China was only a blip on the corner of the radar screen because the talk was so domestic-focused. The only doubts expressed were over […]
Wen’s Last Reform Push
By John Richardson Wen Jiabao has been at it again. His extraordinarily strong comments on Tuesday follow those he made last month about the risks of a return to the economic chaos of the Cultural Revolution. On this latest occasion, he has taken aim at the state-owned banks. China’s premier, who is to relinquish power […]
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