By John Richardson ANOTHER week and sadly a repeat of the same old story: Depressed polyolefins demand in China. Pricing did, however, increase – by $10-50/tonne in the case of polyethylene (PE) and $10-40/tonne for polypropylene (PP), according to assessments by ICIS pricing for the week ending 16 March. But our colleagues at ICIS […]
Asian Chemical Connections
Turning The US Story On Its Head
By John Richardson THE big US petrochemicals story at the moment is, of course, shale gas and the potential it offers for the local industry to substantially expand capacity. This would, in theory, give producers a strong position to export to South America, Asia and Europe. Exports are going to be essential as the US market, […]
It’s All About Shale Gas
By Malini Hariharan As expected, excitement around shale gas is running strong at the CERAWeek conference in Houston. But an element of caution is also visible with the majors appearing to be in no rush to finalise their investments. Shell is still a few years away from taking a final investment decision on a proposed […]
PE Margins Lowest On Record
By John Richardson ANOTHER week has gone by with no evidence of significantly stronger polyethylene (PE) volumes in China. Rising labour costs, because of mandated government increases in minimum wages, and the shortages of labour post-Lunar New Year, are still making it difficult for plastic converters to run at full capacity. The recovery in pricing […]
Europe Markets Lure Asian Polyolefins
By John Richardson EXACTLY the same scenario is playing out in European polyolefin markets, as in Latin America and possibly the US, my ICIS colleague Linda Naylor reported last Friday. High polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) prices in Europe have led to increased offers for re-exported material from China, according to Linda – our European […]
US Cooks The Golden Goose
By John Richardson THE blog would sincerely like to find evidence that it has been wrong and report a strong, sustainable recovery in China’s polyethylene (PE) market. Alas, however, the rise in pricing of around $100/tonne over the last four weeks appears to have been almost entirely the result of increased trader activity and producers […]
Seeing Through The Smokescreens
By John Richardson CHEMICALS traders and the financial community, quite obviously, benefit enormously from volatility. Thus we have seen certain chemicals markets being talked-up by the trading community on the basis that the post-Lunar New Year period will see a surge in demand. Equally, the job of the financial community at the moment is to […]
The Fragility Of the Recovery Story
By John Richardson A VERY illuminating discussion with a Shanghai-located sales and marketing manager for a major Asian polyolefin producer reveals how the post- Lunar New Year “recovery” story being sold by the investment community is on even more shaky ground than we at first thought. Three points worth highlighting, before we publish verbatim what he said, […]
Five Essentials For Planners
By John Richardson POLYETHYLENE (PE) industry planners need to factor in the following as they prepare for 2012: 1.) Oil prices are causing demand destruction in the global economy. They could go higher due to the Iranian nuclear crisis. In real dollar terms, as fellow blogger Paul Hodges has written, crude prices were the highest […]
Difficult Year For Naphth-based PE
By John Richardson THE first quarter of the 2012, and very probably the rest of the year, look likely to be very difficult for Asia’s naphtha-based polyethylene (PE) producers as a result of more competition from the Middle East in the vital China market. The other big negative factor looks likely to be Chinese demand […]
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