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Asian Chemical Connections

Chems Trade Protectionism On The Rise

By John Richardson TRADE protectionism in chemicals is set to rise during 2012 as a result of a weaker global economy, warned a trade lawyer who specialises in the chemicals industry. “There was a 30-40% increase in the total number of anti-dumping cases in Europe in 2011 over the previous year, and I think this […]

IOC Defers PX/PTA, Proceeds With Acetic Acid, Butene-1

By Malini Hariharan The blog continues with a review of Indian projects. State-owned refinery major Indian Oil Corp (IOC) has deferred its paraxylene (PX) and purified terephthalic acid (PTA) projects at Vadodara in Gujarat state, to post 2015. “The project is on hold because of commercial issues; we are looking at the total PX/PTA picture […]

Hits And Misses For Indian Projects

By Malini Hariharan The Indian project scene continues to see some hits and misses. Among the projects on track, sources at Gail (India) told the blog last week that expansion of its Pata cracker and a new polyethylene (PE) plant will be completed in Q1 2014. Mechanical completion is due in December 2013,, while commissioning […]

India growth slides to two-year low

By Malini Hariharan Economic data from India continues to disappoint. The economy grew at only 6.9% for the quarter ended September, the weakest pace in more than two years and below forecasts. Activity in the manufacturing sector slowed sharply as a result of high interest rates. The segment, which accounts for around 16% of the […]

US Chemicals See End Of Profit Boost

By John Richardson THE extent to which the US economy has become distorted in favour of the corporate sector was thrown into sharp relief by this article in the New York Times (the financial sector is another separate, but equally disturbing story). Whether the US can tackle the longer-term factors behind the distortions in favour […]

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 […]

India to export more benzene

By Malini Hariharan Indian exports of benzene are set to rise over the next few years as new plants start up. “India will remain in a net surplus position over the next five years and exports will continue, with [benzene] from western India moving to the Middle East, the US and Europe, and benzene from […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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