Home Blogs Asian Chemical Connections

Asian Chemical Connections

Polyolefins Supply Surge Warning – Yet Again

By John Richardson A GREAT deal more polyolefins supply is expected to hit the Asian markets over the next few months resulting in what two chemicals analysts tell the blog will be depressed margins up until March next year. After that the analysts – one in Singapore and the other in South Korea – predict […]

Supercycle Claims Dismissed

By John Richardson THE Morgan Stanley Supercycle report, which we first blogged on last Friday, has created a big stir among the blog’s contacts.  Click herefor a copy of the report RI_PETROCHEM_BLUEPAPER2010.pdf    As we said in this ICIS news article on both the Morgan Stanley report, and one from Merrill Lynch which is in a similar […]

Capitalising on the cotton crisis

  By Malini Hariharan Cotton prices have hit a 140-year high on the ICE futures in the US creating room for further price hikes across the polyester chain. Prices of paraxylene (PX), purified terephthalic acid (PTA), monoethylene glycol (MEG) and polyester fibre and yarn have escalated sharply in the last few months as a supply […]

Making Everyone Feel A Little Bit Middle Class

Far more choices now… Source of picture: www.mhhe.com/business     By John Richardson THE nature of demand growth in emerging markets is a subject the blog has paid some attention to over the last few weeks. Taking advantage of this growth will require the ability to innovate in order to tap into the huge opportunities […]

Howling At the Moon And PE Price Discussions

    Source of piicture: worldofstock.com       By John Richardson   CHINA’S surprise decision earlier this week to raise interest rates – the first rate rises since December 2007 – has badly dented sentiment in the polyethylene (PE) market, said a source with a Western producer. But estimates of price direction based on […]

No Going Back, But Don’t Expect Smooth Ride

Cloth nappies?….you have to be kidding       Source of picture: babygavin.com   By John Richardson IT IS the biggest transformation that the global economy has probably ever undergone, resulting in numerous opportunities and challenges for the chemicals industry as emerging markets continue to boom. The obvious opportunity is for those who can meet […]

China Economic Hype And Crude Oil

Let’s catch the bus from now on….  Source of picture: hybridcars.com   By John Richardson THE blog has long been worried about the difficulty, probably the impossibility, of accurately measuring real Chinese growth. And it gets harder as the country now has some 130,000 polyolefin traders and distributors, according to an estimate we heard last […]

Abandon Fear And Plan For The New Utopia

Michael Corleone once told his fiancee, “The old way of doing things is over – even my father knows that. In ten years time, the Corleone family will be entirely legitimitate” and ten years later he was still killing lots of people. So beware of what follows… Source of picture: www.i-italy.com   By John Richardson […]

Distorting The Outlook For 2011

    Source of picture: http://www.intentblog.com By John Richardson and Malini Hariharan THE view from a particular geography, grade of polyolefin or end-use application might be distorting the outlook for 2011. In China and India and other emerging markets demand growth continues to astound and even though the rates of expansion might have slowed down […]

Jump to page: