By John Richardson IRANIAN polyethylene (PE) exports to China could help to cap or even prevent a recovery in pricing during the second half of this year. Although in volume terms, Iranian material only accounts for a small percentage of the total market, in sentiment and therefore price-setting terms, it seems to be playing an […]
Asian Chemical Connections
Aromatics May Suffer From Strong Reformer Economics
By John Richardson ASIAN aromatics producers are struggling from an oversupply driven both by weak demand for their products and strong overall reformer economics, the blog has been told. As this chart below illustrates for benzene, toluene and xylenes (BTX), the price declines for these base chemicals mirror those we have reported on extensively in […]
China GDP Reduction Spells Tough H2 For Chems
Source of picture: www.en.cn.national By John Richardson THE decline in China’s GDP (gross domestic product) growth from 11.9% in Q1 to 10.3% in the first quarter is, no matter how you try to dress it up, bad news for the chemicals industry. Government officials and some economists are arguing that the moderation is […]
Asian Ethylene, PE Declines Continue
By John Richardson ASIAN ethylene and polyethylene (PE) margins both fell last week – a further indication that the Chinese market remains weak. Bonded warehouses are still full of PE as a result of high imports in March at a time when local production was being ramped up, the blog was told this morning. But […]
China Property Sector Dangers Grow
Source of picture: www.chinadigitaltimes.net By John Richardson HOPES for strong China chemicals and polymer demand growth in H2 partly rest on government stimulus money for infrastructure projects compensating for a weakening real-estate sector. Whether its direct consumption of chemicals and polymers, such as the obvious polyvinyl chloride (PVC) – or indirect benefits […]
Mood Becomes Gloomy On Macro Dangers
Dear Readers – here is, hopefully, a hand summary of some of the key themes that have emerged over the past two weeks with some important additional data on imports and inventory levels in China – plus a rather unscientific industry confidence survey. By John Richardson The mood seems to have changed since the […]
German World Cup Win And A Double-Dip Recession?
Please, please not again… Source of picture: soccernet.espn.go.com By John Richardson The dreadful state of China’s polyethylene (PE) market will last for at least the next two months as a result of the overstocking we talked about earlier this week and poor demand, two polyolefin traders told the blog today. And […]
Ethylene Margins Plunge On PE Rate Cuts
By John Richardson THE steep decline in Asian ethylene margins – detailed in the chart below from the ICIS pricing weekly margin report – seems to be largely the result of the worrying state of China’s polyethylene (PE) market, which we discussed yesterday. “The Saudis have reduced their PE operating rates, resulting in an […]
China PE Market Falls Prey To The Speculators…..
….again By John Richardson THE sharp fall in polyethylene (PE) pricing in China is being blamed on speculative acquisition of cargoes by traders in March and a rise in local production. Apparent consumption (imports plus local production) is reported to have surged to 1.7m tonnes in March and 1.5m tonnes in April compared 1.3m tonnes […]
China PE, PP Weakness Set To Continue
Europe and China: A two-tier market is hard to bear… Source of picture: blog.pinkcakebox By John Richardson CHINA’S polyolefin pricing is likely to remain under downward pressure over the next few months as a result of a persistent inventory overhang, new supply and weak construction and auto markets, two traders and one producer have […]
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