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Asian Chemical Connections

Gas, Gas, And Perhaps Even More Gas

By John Richardson THE global petrochemicals industry is stepping on the gas as it accelerates both capacity expansions and the restructuring of existing assets. Apologies for the pun. In the US, of course, some 25m tonnes/year of ethylene capacity is due to be added, most of it after 2017, thanks to big volumes of cheap […]

The Minority Isn’t Always Wrong

By John Richardson “I REALLY worry about the ability to export extra capacity from the US as I think global markets will become much more regional,” said a source with a poylolefins producer . “The US is also pretty much a saturated market because of high existing levels of polymers consumption [see the above graph] […]

3D Printing Likely To Change Just About Everything

By John Richardson 3D printing will very probably force manufacturers, including those who make chemicals and polymers, to build entirely new business models. Here is why: The young in Western societies will be poorer because of less aggregate demand as a result of the retirement of the Babyboomers. They will need to save a lot […]

The US Growth Conundrum

By John Richardson WHERE is the growth in the US economy going to come from to consume the big increase in the country’s ethylene and derivatives production due to take place from 2017 onwards? This is a question that continues to trouble the blog when we study charts such as the one above. It is […]

The Perils Of An Even Weaker Yen

By John Richardson YOU cannot turn 65-year-olds into 35-year-olds, no matter how much central bank stimulus you throw at the problem. This is why the real, underlying problem with Japan is its demographics which make all the current attempts to stimulate its way to stronger local growth pretty much futile. If there are not enough […]

Chemicals Companies Risk Losing Market Muscle

By John Richardson IT used to be so easy. All you had to do was build a feedstock-advantage plant outside China and/or build a plant in China and demand would take care of itself. The reason was that China was on a roll from 2001 onwards thanks to its accession to the World Trade Organisation, […]

The Trickle-Down Effect….Again

By John Richardson THE classic image of the high-school student flipping Big Macs has become out of date in the US, according to this New York Times article. “Because of lingering unemployment and a relative abundance of fast-food jobs, older workers are increasingly entering the industry ,” adds the NYT. “These days, according to the […]

German Politicians Head In The Wrong Direction

By John Richardson IT took Germany’s politicians five weeks, including a final marathon 17-hour negotiating session, to agree on a “grand coalition”, points out The Economist in this article.  The trouble is that, despite this massive expenditure of hot air the deal to form a government, led by Chancellor Angela Merkel (see left), appears likely […]

Australia: Nice Work If You Were Able To Get It

By John Richardson BACK in the late 1990s, the blog held a discussion with an Australian petrochemicals industry executive. He described his country’s approach to free trade, or rather the lack of it, as “to put it politely, naïve, and to put is less politely, plain stupid.” He was referring to how Australia had aggressively […]

The US Needs A Plenum

By John Richardson CHINA’S crucial November plenum has now finished and so far there are no details on policy decisions. All we have had is a brief communiqué, which includes key phrases such as “deepening reform” and “crossing the river by feeling the stones”. This latter phrase underlines our argument that reform will be trial […]

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