By Malini Hariharan Asian butadiene prices are once again on their way up, rising over 20% in the last two weeks. Prices last week were at $1,900/tonne cfr Northeast Asia, up from a low of $1,500-1,600/tonne cfr Northeast Asia in the week ending 11 November, reports ICIS news. And offers have crossed the $2,000 mark […]
Asian Chemical Connections
India PO demand set to decline
By Malini Hariharan The last two weeks has seen a recovery in Indian polyolefins demand led by developments in China. Prices of PE and PP have risen sharply and traders expect the uptrend to continue for the next couple of weeks as converters need to rebuild depleted inventories. But unless buying can be sustained in […]
Polyester still booming
By Malini Hariharan The blog has been listening to some interesting presentations on the polyester chain at the Indian Petrochem – 2011 conference in Mumbai. The global economic slowdown does not appear to have dampened prospects for polyester demand. “Demand for polyester grew by 5.6m tonnes last year which was atypical; we all thought that […]
Restocking lifts polyolefins prices
By Malini Hariharan Polyolefins prices in the key China markets inched up last week thanks to an uptick in buying activity. Prices of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) blow moulding and film grades moved up $20/tonne while linear-low density PE prices were up $30/tonne, reports ICIS pricing. Polypropylene prices were also up $10-20/tonne However, opinion continues to […]
A question of balance
By Malini Hariharan It is not surprising to read that at a time when many producers around the world are cutting production, cost-advantaged producers in the Middle East will be maintaining operations at their polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) plants. Producers in the region with access to cheap feedstockts are expected to run their plants […]
Buying resumes but will it last?
By Malini Hariharan A spurt in polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) buying in China over the last few days has raised hopes among sellers that the market has bottomed out and prices should rise in the coming weeks. After hand-to-mouth buying for the last three months buyers are said to be replenishing stocks which should […]
China and India: No Guarantees
MOST chemical companies now believe it is inevitable that China and India will reach developed economy status. Many even believe that their strong growth will mean “the end of economic cycles”. But as we discuss in Chapter 6 of ‘Boom, Gloom and the New Normal’, the new ICIS/ International eChem/ICIS eBook, there are three major risks […]
Not All Plastics Are Born Equal
DSM’s Dyneema replaces steel in offshore ropes Source of picture: offshore-technology.com By John Richardson THE polyethylene (PE) shopping bags that get thrown away in their millions every day are some considerable distance down the value chain from DSM’s Dyneema ultra-high molecular weight PE (UHMWPE for short). Applications for Dyneema® include stopping bullets (it is […]
PTA And PX Keep Sliding
By Malini Hariharan Asian spot prices for polyester raw materials continued to fall last week as concern on lack of buying support from the China market where concerns about the health of the global economy dampened sentiment. Purified terephthalic acid (PTA) prices declined to a 11-month low dragged down by weak demand and falling values […]
China Refining: Where Is It Heading?
By Malini Hariharan Yesterday’s post talked about refining capacity additions in China and India over the next few of years and how this will contribute to weak refining margins across the region. The blog obtained a preview of a presentation being made by Liao Na, information director of C1 Energy, at a China oil and […]
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