By John Richardson NEW STEAM cracker projects are still being announced on the assumption that they will still be needed 20 years and more from now – well beyond full depreciation. One could argue this is reasonable given that it took some 50 years, from the introduction of the Model T to the development of […]
Asian Chemical Connections
China polyolefins demand in 2021 could be 6.5m tonnes lower than expected with imports a lot weaker
By John Richardson NOW we must be very careful here. Time and time again, Chinese polyolefins growth has defied the doom mongers. Just look at 2015 as a prime example, when, despite a mild economic downturn, polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) consumption growth surprised on the upside, largely because of a surge in internet sales. […]
Why it is obvious few, in any, conventional steam crackers will start-up after 2030
By John Richardson I SAID TO a contact earlier this week that it was remarkable that a senior executive at a petrochemicals company thought few, if any, conventionally built steam crackers would come online after 2030. His response was, “of course, that’s obvious”. But from the perspective of some other industry executives, the future is […]
Petrochemical feedstock purchasing managers: What to think about and what do next
By John Richardson ALL THE old assumptions about how oil, feedstock and petrochemicals markets work need to quite literally be thrown out of the window. No old model or way of thinking will work anymore until the crisis is over. The permanent changes that will take place in markets, and there will be many, is […]
Complacency, LLDPE and plastic waste: A collapse in demand
By John Richardson THE TECHNICAL people, those with PHDs in polymer science who have also spent years in application development work, will tell you it is simply impossible to find other materials that perform as well as LLDPE. Multi-layer LLDPE films are vital in applications such as wrapping food, they argue, thanks to excellent barrier properties. […]
Global recession approaches as chems data weakens, debt problems build
THE CHEMICALS industry is the “industry of industries” – upstream of all the manufacturing chains. This is why what is happening in chemicals serves as such an important early indicator. Take a look at the above chart – the latest from the American Chemistry Council. It shows that during September, capacity utilisation in the global […]
Mike Pence’s key China speech highlights Cold War risks for petchems
By John Richardson US VICE president Mike Pence made a barely reported speech on 4 October in which his big theory was that Bill Clinton, George W Bush and Barack Obama misread China. Mr Pence said that the nation they embraced as a partner was instead a competitor. It is important that you read the […]
China polymer growth at risk of 8.6m tonne decline on trade war
By John Richardson THERE is no other country or even region in the world that comes anywhere close to being as important to the global polymers industry as China, as the above chart reminds us. From end-2017 until the end of 2021 in seven of the major synthetic resins – PE, PP, PS, EPS, ABS, […]
Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene trade war disruptions
By John Richardson BECAUSE CHINA is such a dominant player in finished goods manufacturing, US tariffs on Chinese imports as part of the trade war will have major negative effects upstream across a wide range of petrochemicals and polymers and across a wide range of countries. The reason is of course that petrochemicals are needed […]
US styrene another petchems sector at risk from trade war
By John Richardson THE US decision to pick a fight with China over trade and geopolitical influence could backfire very badly from the perspective of new US investments in petrochemicals capacity – most notably polyethylene (PE) and ethylene glycols (EG). The data tell is that many billions of dollars of investments in new plants will […]