By John Richardson CHINA’s leaders have so far refused to back down from their efforts to deal with excessive lending growth, despite a growing credit crisis. Yesterday, the central bank rebuffed pleas to inject more cash into the financial system, adding to the problems of overstretched lenders, the Financial Times wrote in this article. […]
Asian Chemical Connections
It Is Just Too Difficult
Smart bottles By John Richardson THERE is a growing concern amongst some polyolefin industry executives that, despite the economic problems first in China and now India, there is still a great deal of enthusiasm for adding new capacity, as we discuss in this ICIS Insight article. “Now that China has weakened, everybody has switched […]
A New Look For Asian Chemical Connections
Dear Readers You will notice that today our blog as a new look and feel. We think the design is a big improvement, but this is still very much work in progress and we welcome your feedback. Best Regards John Richardson
Indonesia’s Challenges
By John Richardson INDONESIA was the subject of much enthusiasm when the blog hosted a webinar on Monday on China Polyolefins Markets. We will provide a link to a recorded version of the event shortly. The reason for the enthusiasm over Indonesia is perhaps because China, and now quite likely India, no longer guarantee strong growth. […]
India’s Economic Problems Further Exposed
By John Richardson CHEMICALS company executives are going on the record to say that the outlook for growth in China has become exceptionally uncertain. This echoes comments first made by the blog 18 months ago. At that time, the consensus view amongst analysts seemed to be that China was definitely heading for a Supercycle, when it […]
More Great News On China
Pollution over eastern China Source of picture: Wikimedia By John Richardson IT wasn’t the kind of news that China’s polyethylene (PE) traders wanted to reflect on over the weekend. On Friday, China’s cabinet – the State Council – announced that it had adopted 10 measures designed to improve air quality. “Many of the measures […]
A Delicate Balancing Act
XI Jinping (see picture), the country’s new president, is being described either as a nationalist, who has set China on an overly aggressive course or as someone who will skilfully and harmoniously guide the nation through major domestic and international reforms. According to Robert Lawrence Kuhn , an international investment banker and author, Xi’s nationalism, or […]
The 10th ICIS Innovation Awards
The deadline of 3 July is closing in fast for entries to the 10th ICIS Innovation Awards, designed to reward innovation, environmental advances and sustainability in the global chemical industry. If you want a chance to win extensive coverage in ICIS Chemical Business and receive industry-wide recognition for your hard-won innovations as they enter the […]
The Complexities Of Benzene
By John Richardson SOMETIMES petrochemicals markets defy reality, on the occasions when pricing moves out-of-synchronicity with the underlying nature of demand. This is the case with benzene today (see the above pricing chart) as my ICIS colleague Truong Mellor describes, in this excellent Insight article. He says that: *European Benzene pricing has been bullish, as […]
Demographics And Shale Gas
By John Richardson GLOBAL shale resources are large enough to cover more than a decade of oil consumption, writes the FT in this article, quoting the US Department of Energy. And as my colleague Nigel Davis writes in this, as usual, excellent Insight article, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) has upwardly revised its estimate of worldwide recoverable […]
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