By Malini Hariharan Paraxylene (PX) is one of the few petrochemicals to have a contract price recognized all over Asia. However, the Asian contract price (ACP) mechanism which has been in use for over ten years continues to court controversy. The ACP, a monthly settlement that is negotiated by a handful of large producers and […]
Asian Chemical Connections
China’s latest craze – methanol-to-olefins
By Malini Hariharan A methanol-to-olefins (MTO) wave is gripping China and projects are set to multiply even as questions persist on their economic viability. Popularity of this technology has grown since the successful commissioning of Shenhua Baotou’s plant earlier this year and many mid-sized Chinese chemical companies have queued up to implement projects. Pic source: […]
OPEC, China Inflation And Petchems
By John Richardson OPEC’s decision to maintain crude quotas at current levels could give the banks further ammunition to manipulate opinion that the black stuff is genuinely in tight supply. There is plenty of evidence that oil is, in fact, still pretty long – and that this bull-run is yet again about speculators talking up […]
Petchems And Tomorow’s OPEC Meeting
By John Richardson THE next OPEC meeting – which takes place in Ecuador this Saturday (11 December) – is crucial for petrochemicals for two reasons. Firstly, the crude market has turned bullish recently as a result of the early onset of winter in Europe and the growing belief that the oil-supply cushion is being reduced. […]
Chinese MEG Demand Up By 2m tonnes This Year
By Malini Hariharan Global monoethylene glycol (MEG) markets are likely to remain robust in 2011, supported by strong demand from China and a lack of new capacity additions, a top executive from MEGlobal told the blog at the 5th Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA) forum being held in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE). […]
Lasting Damage To US Chemicals
By John Richardson The huge and long-lasting impact of the economic crisis on the US chemicals industry is detailed in the excellent Year-End Situation and Outlook report from the American Chemistry Council (ACC), which was released late last week. Light vehicle sales and housing starts will still be below 2006 levels in 2015 – the […]
India PE in a tight spot
By Malini Hariharan It is not just China where polyethylene (PE) producers face problems. Indian producers have been struggling to place volumes as huge imports during the last couple of months have saturated the domestic market. PE import volumes were said to have hit a record high of 104,000 tonnes in October. And my colleague […]
December Polyolefin Price Rises Flounder
“I am so happy to be supporting polyethylene film pricing”…. Source of picture: Canada-China Agriculture and Food Development Exchange By John Richardson IT looks as if attempts by polyolefin producers to raise prices for December deliveries have, as we predicted last week, been largely unsuccessful. Some grades of polypropylene (PP) edged up by $10-20/tonne […]
A dose of caution
By Malini Hariharan Predictions about a steady recovery in petrochemical margins from financial analysts have multiplied in recent weeks and producers too have turned bullish with many expecting to sail through 2011 without any major difficulties. But in the midst of this optimism a few cautionary voices can still be heard. Analysts at South Korea-based […]
The Threat From a Resurgent China Vinyls Industry
The price of coal….. Source of picture: www.guardian.co.uk By John Richardson A big shake-up in China’s chlor-alkali to carbide-based polyvinyl chloride (PVC) industry is underway which could have major implications for the global industry, we have been told by industry observers. In a clear demonstration that it is better to be lucky as well […]
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