By John Richardson WEAKER domestic consumption-growth in China represents a major challenge to the argument that global petrochemicals demand, and therefore pricing, will see a strong recovery during 2011. Price declines continued last week with low-density polyethylene (LDPE) down a further $20-50/tonne as the polymer, as we have reported before, continues to be dogged by […]
Asian Chemical Connections
Ethylene And PE Markets Decline Continues
By John Richardson THE decline in Asian and European ethylene and polyethylene (PE) markets continued last week with no sign of the recovery that producers still hope will take place by end-June at the latest. Asian ethylene prices slipped by a further $60-70/tonne to $1,130-1,170/tonne FOB Korea to reach a six-month low, according to our […]
Saudi Crackers Could Soon Be At 100%
By John Richardson SAUDI ARABIA’S crackers could soon be running at operating rates of 100% again following widespread reports quoting the al-Hayat newspaper that the country’s crude production is set to rise to 10m barrels a day in July. Al-Hayat, a Saudi newspaper, is seen as a reliable indicator of government intentions. We reported last week how […]
Don’t shoot the messenger
By Malini Hariharan There is a lot of free price information and advice available to Indian polymer buyers via emails and SMSs. The gist of the messages these days is that the Chinese market is weak, international and domestic prices will fall and buying should be in limited volumes. An email that landed in the […]
Saudi Petchem Output Increase
By John Richardson YESTERDAY’S fractious OPEC meeting – where members were unable to agree on a proposal by the four biggest members to raise output – may not necessarily be good news for petrochemicals. For a long time the industry has worried about Saudi Arabia’s potential to raise crude output from approximately 8.5m barrels a […]
China Polyolefin Demand Growth Flat In 2011
By John Richardson POLYOLEFINS demand growth in China is likely to be flat in 2011 over last year, a senior industry executive and a consultant have told us. “I am quite pessimistic and don’t see the Chinese government winning the battle to bring inflation below 4% during this year (its target) and so the credit restrictions […]
Shell Firms-up Interest in New US Capacity
By Malini Hariharan Shell Chemicals has become the latest entrant to a steadily growing list of companies looking at new cracker investments in the US. As we wrote about last week, Shell Chemicals told us in an interview at the Asia Petrochemical Industry Conference (APIC) in Fukuoka, Japan, that it was evaluating brown and greenfield […]
New Normal Course In Frankfurt On 16-17 June
The blog is excited about its first New Normal seminar in Frankfurt, Germany this month. It follows February’s successful launch in Singapore, and is being held in association with International eChem on 16-17 June. The Workshop aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the factors that will impact the petrochemical market over the next few years: […]
Global Polyolefins At A Tipping Point
By John Richardson A GLOBAL slowdown in manufacturing is already being reflected in European and US polyolefin markets as anxiety in the industry grows over the prospects for the rest of this year. European June contract prices for ethylene and propylene have declined after seven consecutive months of increases. Ethylene contracts have slipped by Euros45/tonne […]
APIC Delegates Focus On Capacity
By John Richardson THE article of faith publicly expressed at last week’s Asia Petrochemical Industry Conference (APIC) in Fukuoka, Japan, was that the current problems with demand in China and India were only temporary. Discussions the blog held were packed with the conventional wisdom that not enough capacity would be built over the next few […]
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