By John Richardson IF you are convinced of the accuracy of Indian government air-quality readings, then air pollution in Delhi is nowhere near as bad as that in Beijing – despite a New York Times report to the contrary. Government measurements, published in response to the NYT article, show that the concentration of harmful particulates […]
Asian Chemical Connections
Global Equities, China, The Fed And Some Perspective
By John Richardson AS USUAL, everyone will take what they want and need to take, in order to protect their own interests, out of Monday – the worst day for the Dow Jones Industrial Average in seven months. This was followed by severe declines in several emerging market indices. Like everyone else in the somewhat […]
Thailand Solution Seems Out Of Grasp
By John Richardson THAILAND looks as if it is likely to be in political turmoil for at least several more months following an inconclusive General Election last Sunday. The election failed to resolve the crisis because of low voter turnout and some seats being uncontested. Other obstacles to a quick political fix include legal challenges […]
China’s About Turn: The Seven Global Implications
By John Richardson HISTORIANS will end up concluding that falling emerging market currencies and stock markets – the prelude to what could be a full-blown crisis – is really about China and not about the US Federal Reserve. The Fed is just a sideshow to the main event of what is going to drive not […]
US Shale Gas And Income Distribution
By John Richardson THE US shale gas and tight oil-driven energy revolution offers fantastic economic opportunities. Kevin Swift, Chief Economist and Managing Director of the American Chemistry Council, provided a comprehensive and very valuable summary of the opportunities during his speech at the 2nd ICIS Pan American Phenol-Acetone Conference, which took place in Houston, Texas, […]
China “Base Case” Indicates Another Good Year
By John Richardson LAST year was a tremendous year for polyethylene (PE) exporters to China, according to data provided by US-based International Trader Publications, the US-based trade data and analytics service. They conclude that China’s imports of high-density polyethylene (HPDE) and low-density PE (LDPE) posted strong gains. Volumes for 2013 were up 18% and 10%, respectively, versus […]
ExxonMobil, Energy Efficiency And Innovation
By John Richardson SAVING money through energy efficiency, along with innovation, will be two of the keys to success in the New Normal because demand-growth patterns will be very different than during the Supercycle. The suspension, which guaranteed success for everybody, has gone. We are therefore going to see some creative destruction amongst chemicals and […]
Dow And Commodities-Specialities Integration
By John Richardson IS diversification itself a problem in commodity chemicals and speciality companies with operations under one roof, or is it more how this diversification is handled? This is a question raised by this excellent Insight article, from the blog’s ICIS colleague Joe Chang, which revisits the issue of hedge fund Third Point’s […]
China’s Rough Ride To Sustainable Growth
By John Richardson IT makes no sense whatsoever to think that the transition to another type of growth in China will inevitably be so smooth that there is hardly any disruption to the global economy, and, with it, of course, the chemicals industry. The issues facing China are too complex and too myriad for the […]
Getting China And The Fed The Wrong Way Round
By John Richardson MOST newspapers and wire services still seem to have got it in the wrong way round. Last week, as Argentina’s Peso crisis began, they continued to identify Fed tapering as the number one threat to emerging markets followed by China. But here’s a reminder: The Fed has spent some $3 trillion on […]
Jump to page: