By John Richardson WE thought it would be helpful for chemicals to summarise our thoughts on China as chemicals and other companies prepare their strategies for 2015. See our ten-point guide below, with relevant links to our previous coverage and coverage elsewhere: The Deng Xiaoping growth model went on far for too long, especially post […]
Asian Chemical Connections
Why China’s Anti-Corruption Campaign Has To Continue
By John Richardson CHINA’s anti-corruption campaign is now more than two years old and continues to generate a great deal of criticism. These criticisms include claims that it sometimes targets the wrong individuals – and that the campaign might end up being all about China’s senior leadership cementing their positions, rather than tackling the underlying […]
China’s Demand For Lending In Steep Decline
By John Richardson WHEN the demand for lending in any economy starts to decline, you know that the people who make up that economy have an understanding that things are likely to get worse before they get better. Hence, chemicals and other companies need to take note of the latest survey from the People’s Bank […]
Global Petchems Industry Must Prepare For More Difficult 2015
THE direction of Asian polyethylene markets, once again, serves as a good guide for the overall global petrochemicals industry. Producers in every region and in every sector of our industry should, therefore, take note of what follows. They must prepare for what we worry will be a much more challenging 2015. By John Richardson […]
China’s Lending Up Just 5% As Govt Refuses To Blink
By John Richardson CHINA’S official bank lending was up just 5% in January-August of this year compared with the same period in 2013, according to some more value-added data crunching by our fellow blogger, Paul Hodges. It is absolutely critical to put this 5% increase into this context: •The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the […]
China Excess Phenol Capacity A New Strategic Tool
By John Richardson STANDARD Western cost-per-tonne analysis has never really been applied in China’s petrochemicals industry – and it never will be applied. In the past, we have seen how petrochemicals plants have often been run at operating rates of 100% or more, even in the lousiest of market conditions, in order to guarantee supplies […]
China Doing “More With Less” In Steel And Plastics
By John Richardson CHINA is still a poor country relative to the West and here is why: Average per capita annual urban incomes in 2013 were just Rmb29547 ($4769), according to official government statistics. Average per capita rural incomes were only $1276, again according to the government. If you were on $4796 anywhere in the West, […]
Eight Steps To Realising This Will Be Worse Than Lehman Bros
By John Richardson WE are going through a process of realisation at the moment. It is not a linear process – i.e. not all people will be at the same stage. Equally, chemicals and other company executives will move backwards and forwards between different stages in the eight-step process. We can only hope that the […]
Broad Commodities Sell-Off Threatens Petrochemicals
By John Richardson IRON ore prices are now down by nearly 40% so far this year to a level not seen since September 2009. As for crude oil, Brent has now dipped below $100 per barrel, for the first time in over a year. WTI is trading around $92 per barrel, a 16-month low (see the […]
Another Hammer Blow For China Polyethylene
By John Richardson CHINA is bringing down the hammer time and time again as it continues to play the whack-a-mole game. The latest blow to one or several of the unlucky moles involves the People’s Bank of China’s (PBOC) decision to withdraw cash from the financial system for the first time since early August. “The […]
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