Just to stress again that this blog represents my personal views and not those if ICIS. By John Richardson YOU WILL NEED to constantly debate the details of the megatrends as they will very often change entirely. And whilst today’s four megatrends – sustainability, the pandemic, demographics and geopolitics – will remain unchanged, their relative […]
Asian Chemical Connections
Plastic rubbish: the pandemic is increasing rather than reducing the pressure for change
This is the first of a series of blog posts where I will examine the environmental paradigm shift and what it means for the petrochemicals industry. This first post deals with the bottom end of the value chain, the plastic packaging business, and the pressure being exerted upward on petrochemicals producers to change how they […]
European petrochemicals at risk of delayed demand collapse as new business model emerges
By John Richardson AS DELEGATES take part in this year’s virtual annual European Petrochemical Association (EPCA) meeting, they need to try and get to the bottom of the mystery of why demand for the product at the heart of the steam cracker business – polyethylene (PE) – has done so surprisingly well. Once they have […]
Rate of recovery hugely reliant on effectiveness of government policies
By John Richardson UNLESS MORE action is taken by developed countries to help counter the impact of the pandemic in developing countries, we could see a bifurcated world. The developing world might suffer a lost generation of growth as the developed world fully recovers. But this, in my view, is a highly unlikely scenario. Failure […]
China bans on single-use plastics move forward with major recycling investments likely
By John Richardson THIS EVENT slipped under most people’s radar in the midst of the pandemic crisis: on 10 July, multiple provinces across China (we don’t know which provinces and how many provinces) were told to submit plans by mid-August on how they were going to implement a central government crackdown on plastic waste. I […]
Why the polypropylene industry must switch from volumes to value
By John Richardson EVERYONE knows about the oversupply in the polyethylene (PE) market as it has been discussed in more presentations and conferences than any of have had hot dinners. But less understood is the extent of oversupply in the global polypropylene (PP) business, which you can see from the above chart on the left. […]
Why the long term price of oil could be lower than many people expect
By John Richardson I HAVE LONG been intrigued by the theory in quantum physics that electrons behave differently when they are observed as opposed to when they are not being observed. Data is quite similar in that it can be made to behave differently through conscious or unconscious confirmation bias. Two people can look at […]
The polymers industry, climate change and a call to action
By John Richardson MUCH OF the debate about plastics and the environment is, I fear, missing the bigger picture. The focus is heavily on what some of those in the industry say is the debatable science behind studies into the harmful effects of plastics. Polymer executives argue that questionable science doesn’t take account the carbon […]
How sustainability will upend the petrochemicals cost curve, creating new winners and losers
By John Richardson THE FUTURE I described on Wednesday, of declining petrochemicals and polymers demand growth as the Millennials reshape consumer markets, is only doom and gloom if you let it be doom and gloom. This represents a fantastic opportunity for companies in our industry to entirely reshape their strategies and emerge as winners. Gone […]
Scenario 1 inevitable? Are you really, really, hand on heart, that sure?
ICIS and the UK–based chemicals company International eChem had the privilege of making a presentation during the Knowledge Sharing Partners event at last month’s GPCA Forum in Dubai. The conference was organised by our excellent ICIS Conferences team. Please click this link for a copy of our slides: ICISConsultingPresentationGPCA2018 If you would like to further discuss […]