By John Richardson CHINA leads the world in many aspects of renewable energy and has an electric vehicle industry that is receiving the kind of state support that is very probably making foreign competitors green with envy. The explosion of commerce via the mobile internet takes your breath away. Average per person spending on mobile […]
Asian Chemical Connections
China To Raise Ethylene Capacity By 71% In Major Self-Sufficiency Drive
By John Richardson CHINA could raise its ethylene capacity by as much as 71% and its propylene capacity by at least 21%, according to my latest analysis of a major new wave of naphtha, ethane and LPG crackers. The above chart is an update of the chart I first published back in June. In detail: […]
China Puts Environment Ahead Of GDP As Chemicals Shortages Build
By John Richardson FURTHER evidence has emerged of the Chinese government’s determination to deal with an air pollution crisis that a new study says shortens life spans in China by three years . Local government officials have long been measured by how rapidly they expand GDP growth. But in a quite stunning reversal of policy, Beijing has […]
China’s War On Air Pollution Causes Major Chemicals Shortages
By John Richardson CHINA is quite literally going to war against air pollution as tries to tackle a health crisis that causes some 1.6m deaths every year. The end-result is major shortages up and down many chemicals value chains. The environmental campaign is in lock-step with wider economic reforms. Economically inefficient low value manufacturers that […]
China PP Market Outlook for H2 And 2018
By John Richardson AS IS the case with polyethylene (PE), China’s polypropylene (PP) market continues to catch up with the underlying realities of demand growth. If you recall, in Q1 of this year PP net imports (imports minus exports) grew by no less than 36% over the same period last year to 1.3m tonnes. The […]
China’s Soil Pollution: The $1,000 Trillion Problem
By John Richardson THE ESTABLISHED approach to dealing with soil polluted by chemicals waste involves washing the soil and treating it with bacteria. These were the methods used ahead of the 2012 London Olympic Games, reports The Economist. The cost was £3,000 ($3,900) per cubic metre, reaching a total of £12.7m to decontaminate some 250 hectares. […]
US Climate Decision: Chemicals Company Winners And Losers
By John Richardson CHINA is set to introduce a carbon emissions trading scheme later this year for steel and aluminium,, with the chemicals and polymers sectors set to join at a later date. Next January, China is also set to introduce a new environmental tax that would represent an additional cost to its domestic chemicals […]
China’s Drive To PX Self-Sufficiency Again Shows Failure Of Conventional Thinking
By John Richardson BACK in November 2014, when I first suggested that China might move to self-sufficiency in paraxylene (PX), my blog post was met with widespread scepticism. At that time, China was moving from a major import position in purified terephthalic acid (PTA) towards becoming a net exporter. This led to a lot of […]
China’s Polyethylene Market Faces Long Destocking Process
China’s polyethylene (PE) imports surged and domestic production saw strong growth in Q1. This occurred as the economy slowed down on reduced availability of credit and the pollution clean-up. Even if global producers saw this coming, they had no other choice but to raise exports to China late last year for arrival in Q1. This once again […]
China And The New IPCC Report
By John Richardson THE blog isn’t a scientist and it has also often discussed the dangers of another consensus view: That the global economy will return to the Old Normal. Nevertheless, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has now said that there is a 95% chance that human activity is causing climate change, drawing […]
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