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Asian Chemical Connections

A Game Of Two Halves

Source: ICIS   By John Richardson CHINA’S fibre intermediates industry could end of being a game of two halves in 2012, to use an old football (or soccer for the benefit of our America readers) cliché. The reason is that the first half of the year was characterised by very weak demand as the overall […]

Asian LDPE Margins Reach New Low

                                 LDPE margins in 2012      By John Richardson NORTHEAST Asian integrated low-density polyethylene (LDPE) margins keep plunging new depths. The margins were at their most negative since ICIS records began in 2000, according to the ICIS Asian PE Margin Report for the week ending 10 August. And the report for the week ending 17 August said that they had fallen even […]

Dysfunctional Oil Markets

By John Richardson “HOW do a I tell my customers that polyethylene (PE) price rises are justified by more expensive naphtha, when the market is so weak?” asked an Asia-based sales and marketing executive with a major producer earlier this month. A second executive with another producer, who has responsibility for the China market, expressed […]

Paying For China’s Infrastructure

   By John Richardson NEW infrastructure projects in China (see above chart from Rio Tinto) might deliver a boost to chemicals and polymer demand growth in Q4 this year and into 2013. But doubts are being expressed about whether some of these projects can be funded, given the build-up of bad debts in China’s financial system […]

China’s Lending Problems

By John Richardson CHINA’s bank lending slumped by 41.3 percent in July from the previous month, the country’s central bank announced last Friday. This was well below the median forecast of 14 economists polled by Dow Jones newswire, and added to the gloom created by the earlier release of disappointing trade, output and retail sales […]

Middle East-China MEG Exports Surge

By John Richardson MONO-ETHYLENE glycol (MEG) exports to China rose to 4.12m tonnes in the first half of this year from 3.38m tonnes during the same period in 2011, according to data from Global Trade Information Services (GTIS). The main beneficiary of the export surge was the Middle East as H1 2012 exports from Kuwait […]

China’s Blown Up Growth

By John Richardson CHINA’S steel production is expected to decline for the first time in 31 years during 2012. Yes, 31 years. “The end of three decades of growth in a key industry will add to hand-wringing over China’s economy,” wrote Chuin-We Yap in this Wall Street Journal blog post. “China makes half the world’s […]

“The Worse Things Get…..”

  Chart sourced from: http://www.financialsense.com/   By John Richardson “THE worse things get the better they are,” continues to be the mantra in financial and commodity markets these days. For example, China’s inflation slowed to 1.8 percent in July compared with 2.2 percent in June. This is likely to spur expectations of more economic stimulus. The […]

What India Power Cuts Indicate

By John Richardson India, along with China, seems unlikely to deliver the contribution to global economic growth expected by the International Monetary Fund as late as April of this year (see above chart). In the case of India, last week’s power cuts that affected more than 600 million people, point to deep structural problems that […]

No Relief For China SMEs

By John Richardson THE consensus view is that China’s economy bottomed out in H1 and will see a recovery in GDP growth during the second half. Much hope has been attached to more government stimulus delivering a short-term boost to growth, even if there are concerns over the long-term damage that further investment-driven GDP could cause. […]

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