Home Blogs Asian Chemical Connections

Asian Chemical Connections

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 […]

China Chemical Imports Fall On Affordability

By John Richardson China’s petrochemical imports continued to decline in June on tight credit conditions and price rises that deterred consumers, according to our colleagues at ICIS news. Linear-low density polyethylene (LLDPE) imports fell by 18% month-on-month and 3% year-on-year, for example. High-density PE (HDPE) shipments slipped by 4% month-on-month and 8% year-on-year. Benzene shipments halved […]

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 […]

Polyolefins At A Tipping Point

By John Richardson EUROPEAN polyolefin markets are at one of those fascinating tipping points following the recent price recovery. Ethylene spot prices rebounded late last week with July sales much better than those in June, wrote Nel Weddle, European ICIS pricing olefins editor, in this report. Propylene, however, remained under pressure because of a long market. […]

Saudi Petchem Production Threatens Recovery

By John Richardson RISING oil production in Saudi Arabia has resulted in bigger volumes of polyethylene (PE) being delivered into Asia-Pacific markets, a source with a major plastics processor told the blog late last week. “Saudi Arabia has definitely, in my view, already raised PE production on more availability of associated gas. I am seeing […]

The China Inflation Muddle

By John Richardson THE fascinating, but also at the same time frustrating, complexity of the Chinese economy has been thrown into further relief this week in the debate over the implications of the June 6.4% inflation rate. The rate, the highest in close to three years, was seen as especially worrying by some economists because […]

Europe Not Clutching At Straws

By John Richardson EUROPEAN ethylene and polyethylene (PE) market participants seem a million miles away from buying into the idea that the recovery in Asia is sustainable. This is a realistic view following last week’s interest rate rise in China, the fifth in eight months – and with the announcement over the weekend that inflation in June […]

Living In Hope Rather Than Expectation

By John Richardson HOPEFUL theories espoused by traders can sometimes sound a little hollow – as was the case with the one doing the rounds in Asian polyolefin markets late last week. “We think the latest interest rate rise in China will be the last this year and so, in a way, the announcement was good […]

China Polyolefin Prices Rally

In the second part of our analysis of the effect of China’s latest interest-rate rise we look at how the polyolefin market has alllegedly taken the decision in its stride. Crude markets are a different story altogether…. By John Richardson CHINA’S polyolefin market has improved over the last week thanks to a recovery in oil prices […]

Impact of China’s Latest Rate Rise – Part 1

Here is the first of two posts that will analyse the implications of China’s decision to raise interest rates for the third time this year    By John Richardson CHINA’S decision to once again raise interest rates will put further pressure on the hard-pressed small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that make up the bulk of the country’s chemicals and polymer […]

Jump to page: