By John Richardson ANOTHER week has led to another fall in Asian polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) prices despite higher naphtha feedstock costs on stronger crude oil. Pricing has been weak since the Lunar New Year Holidays, (15-21 February). Market participants had expected the opposite on a recovery in demand following the holidays and tight […]
Asian Chemical Connections
China’s Polypropylene Market: The Big Inland Growth Opportunities
By John Richardson A CONVENTIONAL WAY to assess the pace of polymers demand growth in a developing country is to assume links with historical patterns in developing countries. How long did it take the US, Western Europe and other developed economies to reach their current level of per capita consumption? From these rates of increase, […]
Plastic Waste Crisis: How Polymer Company Early Adopters Can Win
Being an “early adopter” is never easy because of cynicism and scepticism. But what choice do we polymer companies have? None, if they really want to protect their revenues. By John Richardson POLYMER companies will lose billions of euros and dollars in revenue unless they react in the right way to the global plastics […]
The Battle To Retain Metallocene Polyethylene Price Premiums
By John Richardson THE ABOVE chart could be a sign of a long term trend where we see metallocene linear-low density polyethylene (LLDPE) price premiums over standard, or C4 grade, LLDPE film at lower levels. We have already seen C6 metallocene premiums in Southeast Asia slip ever so slightly to an average of $113/tonne from […]
How To Replace Billions Of Dollars Of Polymer Sales Lost To New Recycling Rules
By John Richardson THE EU’s requirement that all plastics packaging must be recyclable by 2030 will result in billions of dollars in lost sales across the 28 members of the EU. To give you an example, my preliminary guesstimate suggests that some €6bn of EU sales could be lost in LLDPE alone in the 12 […]
Asian Naphtha Cracker Spreads To Fall By 50% In 2018
By John Richardson ASIAN naphtha cracker operators will see a 50% decline in average spreads, or differentials, between their raw-material costs and finished product prices in 2018 compared with last year, according to my forecasts in the above chart. This will be the result of a further steep rise in oil prices and increased polyethylene […]
Benefits, Risks Of Petronas/Aramco Deals Serving As Template
By John Richardson THE PETRONAS and Saudi Aramco joint ventures in the RAPID refining-to-petrochemicals project in Malaysia may serve as a template for further “win/win deals”. Whilst these deals will substantially benefit the companies and countries involved, there are broader risks that I’ll discuss at the end of this blog post. Back in February, Aramco […]
Four Billion Tonnes of Plastic Waste And Counting: The Threat To Petchems Growth
By John Richardson THE world will have produced a total of 6.9bn tonnes of the 11 synthetic polymers I’ve detailed in the above chart between 1978, when our data begins, and the end of 2017. Using the assumptions behind an important new study that was launched in July this year, let’s assume that 76% of […]
China Compensation
By John Richardson A MAJOR Southeast Asian polyethylene (PE) producer has reduced its percentage of exports to China from 30-40% in 2012 to just 10% so far this year, a source with the producer told the blog on the sidelines of the Asia Petrochemical Industry Conference (APIC) in Taipei. This is further confirmation of the […]
As Oil Rises Demand Weakens
By John Richardson A barrel of Brent crude oil cost $88.49 a barrel in June. Yesterday, it was trading at $116.55 a barrel. In the intervening period the global economy has substantially weakened, most notably in the case of China, as the problems that have been identifiable since late last year have become widely recognised. […]
Jump to page: