By Malini Hariharan The impending oversupply in purified terephthalic acid (PTA) and likely problems in securing feedstock paraxylene (PX) does not seem to have dampened enthusiasm for new investments, Around 10m tonnes of PTA capacity is expected to come on stream from the third quarter of 2011 to late 2012, while another 12.9m tonnes of […]
Asian Chemical Connections
European PE, PP Contracts Likely To Fall
By John Richardson EUROPEAN polyolefin converters seem quite justified in pressurising their suppliers for further price reductions, given weak macro-economic fundamentals and still-excellent profitability at the cracker end of the value chain. The news from China continues to get worse. China’s Vice-Premier Wang Qishan said last week that the government’s 2011 targets for GDP growth and […]
Methanol stays strong, but for how long?
By Malini Hariharan The doom and gloom affecting many segments of the petrochemical industry has yet to reach methanol. Asian spot prices have been stable since January and have hovered in the $340-350/tonne range during the last three months. Methanol traditionally tracks crude oil prices but the product has been unaffected by the recent slide […]
China Auto Market Provides Clear Evidence
By John Richardson DESTOCKING is obviously not the main driver of the decline in China’s polyolefins market, despite what a dwindling band of optimists are still arguing. The glaringly transparent reason for the fallacy of the fading belief is a decline in key end-use markets for polyoleifins – and for other polymers and chemicals. Today […]
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