By John Richardson DOW Chemical CEO Andrew Liveris said in a 27 July conference call that China’s industrial economy was still doing very well. “They’re managing themselves down very nicely,” he added, pointing to official GDP growth numbers of 8-9%, which translate into chemicals and plastics growth of 12-13%. “We’re not seeing any issue here […]
Asian Chemical Connections
Polyolefins In “Chaos And Panic”
By John Richardson CHINA’S polyolefin market was in “total chaos and panic” this morning, according to a Singapore-based trader. The Dalian Comodity Exchange’s futures contract in linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) fell a further 5% this morning after declines earlier in the week, according to ICIC news. The weak futures markets caused a supply surge in the […]
Oil Prices, Wall Street And Economic Chaos
By John Richardson Crude oil and commodities markets have lost touch with the fundamental realities. This didn’t just happen yesterday, but began a decade ago. That’s the argument the blog put forward in the latest chapter of our new free eBook, ‘Boom, Gloom and the New Normal – how the Western BabyBoomers are changing chemical […]
The View From Ground Level Is Different
By John Richardson The macroeconomic headwinds are building, making it hard for some of those at the ground level in Asian polyolefin markets to foresee anything but fragile and tough trading conditions. This is in marked contrast to the fairly optimistic outlook presented by some of the big, well-integrated and differentiated chemicals and polymer companies […]
Polyolefin End-users Assume The Risk
By John Richardson POLYOLEFIN end-users in China and Southeast Asia began to re-stock in significant numbers last week on anticipation that supply is going to remain tight for the next few weeks at least, the blog has been told. “There was a feeling among the converters that because of scheduled maintenance work in August and […]
The US Debt Crisis And Asian Chemicals
By John Richardson THE consequence of either a failure by the US to raise the debt ceiling and/or a downgrading of the country’s Triple A debt rating would have obviously have serious consequences for the Asian and global chemicals industries. Just how serious nobody really knows as we are in uncharted waters. At the very […]
Dow To Sell PP to Braskem
DOW Chemical is to sell its polypropylene (PP) business to Brazil’s Braskem for $340m, according to our colleagues at ICIS news. The blog is digging around for the implications for Dow in Asia. For the time being, however, here are some initial thoughts…. Included in the sales are two plants in the US and two […]
Cosy Platitudes Are Not Enough
By John Richardson DO you trust your government to always get it right? The answer in the case of the West is “of course not”, but in China’s case the publicly-expressed assumption still holds that the economy is being effectively managed. CEOs of chemicals and polymer companies might find it politically challenging to openly say […]
Cotton corrects; will polyester follow?
By Malini Hariharan After last year’s stunning rise, cotton prices have plunged 53% in the last four months from a 140-year peak of $2.15/lb on 4 March. Prices have fallen 38% in July with cotton for December delivery quoted at 98.63 cents/lb on the Intercontinental Exchange. The swift correction in prices is based on expected […]
The Edginess, The Nervousness Continues
By John Richardson THE edgy and nervous nature of the recovery in Asian polyolefin markets became even more apparent from discussions the blog held with traders and producers during a visit to Singapore last week. Such was the uncertainty that there were mid-week reports of falls in pricing. By Friday, though, one producer told us […]
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