By John Richardson THE blog held a full day of discussions with our ICIS China price reporting team in Shanghai (we will provide a lot more details next week) and the story was consistent: *Government policy to rein-in liquidity, most notably new restrictions on the housing market, has driven demand down. *Traders expected a post-Chinese […]
Asian Chemical Connections
China’s New Expectations
By John Richardson THE difficulties of life in modern-day China was evident from several conversations the blog has held during the first two days of its visit to the country. “I had to get an apartment first, which cost a lot of money but luckily my parents were able to help me, and then I […]
A Note From Beijing
Dear all THE blog is very busy this week, travelling to Beijing and then Shanghai, and so apologies if our posts are a great deal shorter than usual. But just to show that we haven’t forgotten you, this is a very interesting article worth reading on China’s leadership challenges.
China’s Numbers Game
By John Richardson YET more problems with Chinese economic statistics have emerged, casting doubt over the idea that an economic hard landing was avoided in 2012 – and that there was a strong rebound in the fourth quarter. “Official data on China’s gross domestic product show the slowdown in growth in the last two years […]
China’s New Credit Clampdown
By John Richardson BEIJING is clearly getting worried that its politically motivated 2012 economic stimulus programme has damaged the economy. “Just when the world had bought into a Chinese economic recovery, along comes the government throwing proverbial spanners in the works,” writes James Gruber, former fund manager and journalist in his latest Asia Confidential weekly […]
The Attention Span Of Commodity Markets
By John Richardson PARTICIPANTS in commodity and financial markets sometimes appear to have very short attention spans. But they are merely doing their jobs by seeking to stretch out rallies as long as possible through claiming everything that was being discussed a few months, weeks or even days ago is suddenly invalid. (see the above […]
China’s Internet Decision
By John Richardson CHINA’S polyethylene (PE) market sentiment rebounded in mid-December on greater confidence that the country’s new leaders meant business on economic reform. And since then, commodity prices in general, including those for iron ore have rebounded thanks to a slew of data that indicates a recovery in growth. Some of the renewed confidence in […]
The Challenges For 2013
By John Richardson WE wish our readers a great festive season and wish them all the best for the New Year. We will take a break and resume the blog on 28 December. We really do wish we could be a great deal more optimistic, particularly at this time of year. 2012 has been a […]
China’s Two-Speed Recovery
By John Richardson CHINA appears to be in the midst of a two-speed recovery as a result of stronger domestic growth, while the export environment remains very bleak. “Our polyethylene (PE) sales to converters who sell into the domestic market have picked up very well in Q4,” said a source with a global polyolefins producer. […]
European Petchems Face Tough Choices
By John Richardson AT LEAST one global polyolefins producer is rumoured to be shipping increased volumes of resin from the US to Europe in response to the shale gas-derived shift in competitiveness. “Dow Chemical CEO Andrew Liveris is making a call on the global economy – one of multi-year slow growth – and adjusting […]
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