By John Richardson IS China’s polyethylene (PE) market going through a temporary lull or are we seeing a sea change in conditions that could spell problems for the rest of this year? This was the question, to paraphrase Hamlet, facing the global industry late last week as lacklustre post Chinese New Year (CNY) demand continued. […]
Asian Chemical Connections
Polyolefin numbers look good
By Malini Hariharan Pic source: www.brandft.co.uk The blog is in undertaking the difficult task of collecting demand numbers for polyolefins across major Asian markets. Preliminary estimates show that demand growth has been quite healthy in the two major markets – China and India. Chinese polyethylene (PE) demand (measured as local production plus imports minus exports) […]
Dalian offers hope …but naphtha continues to climb
By Malini Hariharan The good news for polyolefin producers is that prices in China are inching up supported by an upward movement in the key linear low-density polyethylene (lldPE) futures contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE). The arbitrage window has opened with the Dalian contract for May at CNY12,800/tonne and spot prices at CNY11,100-11,300/tonne. […]
Map Ta Phut issue drags on
By Malini Hariharan The Thai government is doing all it can to quickly resolve the Map Ta Phut crisis but full operations at PTT Chem’s new cracker is likely only in early 2011. Feedstock ethane for the 1m tonnes/year cracker will be supplied from PTT’s No6 gas separation plant commissioning of which has been held […]
Unravelling China’s polyolefin numbers
By Malini Hariharan There is some good and not so good news from China. Import and production numbers for January to April are now available and they tell an interesting story. The good news is that Chinese demand, measured in terms of imports (data from China customs) and local production (data from CBI China), has […]
Price slide intensifies
By Malini Hariharan The weakness in Asian markets is spreading with steep drops also being reported in olefin prices. Ethylene prices dropped by $160-170/tonnes last week while propylene declined $90-110/tonne, writes my colleague Soo Hwee, ICIS pricing editor for olefins. The poor market conditions were attributed to softness in crude oil and naphtha prices as […]
Reliance eyes 2014 start for Jamnagar cracker
By Malini Hariharan Reliance Industries is moving ahead with its Jamnagar cracker project and is looking at completing it in 2014, reports ICIS news. Preliminary activity on the project, which was put on hold after the 2008 economic crisis, has resumed. Discussions are on for technology selection and a firm start up date will be […]
Map Ta Phut pressure mounts
By Malini Hariharan PTT Chem is likely to miss its revenue growth target of 20% this year because of the Map Ta Phut crisis. The company had set a 2010 revenue target of about Baht100bn (US$3bn), up from Baht80bn in 2009, reports the Bangkok Post. As reported by this blog last month, suspension of parent […]
India growth story – Part 3
By Malini Hariharan Some numbers today on Indian polyolefin and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) demand growth during April-December 2009. The strong growth trend noticed in the early part of last year continued and belied earlier expectations of a slowdown because of a drought over parts of India. PVC and polypropylene (PP) recorded the fastest growth rates […]
Polymers start the year on a robust note, but how long will it last?
By Malini Hariharan and John Richardson Expect the unexpected and you probably stand a good chance of making money in the polymer market. Defying expectations of a slowdown in demand ahead of the Chinese new year in February markets have started 2010 with a bang – material is short and prices are steadily moving up. […]
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