South Korea and its consumer-driven economy Source of picture: KeystoneUSA-ZUMA/Rex Features By John Richardson MEASURING demand growth cannot involve merely assuming that the future will be the same as the past, as this increasingly complex world continues to tell us. There are a myriad of social, political and environmental factors that will determine the […]
Asian Chemical Connections
US Manufacturing Exam Question
A lot more than just the standard Model T.,,, Source of picture: cCSU Archv/Everett/Rex Features By John Richardson THE question on my exam paper this Monday morning is what this outstanding article by the author, Charles Fishman, in The Atlantic magazine, means for the petrochemical industry. We have all become used to the idea of the […]
China’s Can-Kicking Temptation
By John Richardson THE China bulls will no doubt claim that the shadow-banking system isn’t a systemic risk to the country’s financial system and thus, of course, the world economy and the investment strategy of many chemical companies. They might be right. Or they might be wrong. Assuming they are right is dangerous. “The economic slowdown […]
China’s Shadow Banking Problem
By John Richardson IN the best of all possible worlds, more than a billion people in the emerging markets will become a great deal richer over the next few decades. As a result, they will be able to much more easily afford all of the things made from, or containing, chemicals and polymers – such […]
China: 2013 Growth To Slow Again
By John Richardson A detailed study of some of China’s positive economic data for November adds a lot more weight to the point we made yesterday: The “recovery” is unlikely to last into 2013. November marked the first time in over a year that both the official China manufacturing PMI and the final HSBC/Markit Economics […]
China “Recovers”
By John Richardson ONE interpretation of the rise in the HSBC China Purchasing Managers Index to a 13-month high in November is that next year promises a strong recovery in the world’s most-important chemicals market. “People have taken considerable cheer from not only the HSBC report, but also other data points that might be interpreted […]
The Next Game Changer: Ample Saudi Ethane
Picture: US shale gas worker Source: Image Broker/Rex Features By John Richardson SHALE-GAS exploration in northern Saudi Arabia shows tremendous promise, said an industry observer on the sidelines of last week’s seventh Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA) conference in Dubai. “The main purpose of the Saudi Aramco project is to generate methane for […]
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