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 […]
Asian Chemical Connections
Is China Targeting Polyolefin Re-export Market?
By John Richardson MORE evidence that China will not remain as easy a sink for surplus polyolefin volumes – especially in the case of the higher-cost importers – is emerging. “There are plans to open a bonded warehouse in Guangdong province to sell RMB material converted into US dollar product,” a Singapore-based polyolefin trader told me […]
The Indian growth story – part 2
By Malini Hariharan A few weeks back I had written about robust demand growth figures emerging from the Indian polymer market. I will be posting some numbers over the next few days but ahead of that I would like to highlight what industry players have been saying on the major growth drivers and also developments […]
What’s behind the delays and operating troubles?
By Malini Hariharan With start-up delays, commissioning issues and operating troubles becoming increasingly common across the Middle East and many parts of Asia, I have been asking industry players on what they think are the major issues that companies are facing. At the top of the list is the shortage of skilled manpower. We have […]
Dear Mr Ambani – or can I call you Mukesh?…..
Source of picture: http://www.twelveatthetop.uku.co.uk/page18.htm …I see from this news report – – that you have denied claims of your interest in buying Liverpool Football Club. If, perhaps, you do have any interest in buying an English football club may I turn your attention slightly eastward to the wonderful city of Leeds […]
Asian Polyolefin Trade Slows on Free-Trade Muddle
By John Richardson Polyolefin shipments have been held up in ports by lack of awareness among customs officers at some ports in Southeast Asia over how to implement new free-trade deals, an industry source told us. It seems highly likely that the same applies to other chemicals and polymer cargoes. The Association of Southeast Asian […]
Douple-dip Appears To Have Begun
By John Richardson The start of the next dip in what this blog has long thought would be a double-dip economic crisis looks as if it could have begun. If not now, it’s going to happen at some point because of major global imbalances. What’s worrying right now is the combination of: *Potentially weaker demand […]
Benzene: What Lies Beneath
A Ring of Truth? Source of picture: http://web.pdx.edu/~nathanh/benzene/benzene2.gif By John Richardson TUMBLING Asian benzene prices are being blamed on weaker crude, itself a reflection of macro-economic worries over higher-than-expected US jobless figures, government debt problems in the Euro zone and tighter credit in China. “It’s not a question of whether, but when the secon dip […]
Liveris on the chemical cycle, Dow’s asset-light strategy and Ras Tanura
By Malini Hariharan I have been reading a transcript of Dow Chemical’s Q4 2009 earnings call and here are some interesting comments made by Andrew Liveris, the company’s ceo. Despite recording revenue and volume growth in 2009 Liveris was cautious on the outlook for 2010 citing an uncertain economic environment. But constraints in Middle East […]
The Dangers Of A Three-Year-Old’s Attention Span
“Hello everybody – welcome to the island of Sodor. Time to flip your positions’ Source of picture: www.dragoart.com By John Richardson MY three-year-old son has, quite rightly, an incredibly short attention span. A child of that age should be overwhelmed with the excitement of lots of wonderful experiences and possibilities. But I would argue that […]
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