By John Richardson MANUFACTURING via 3D printing could result in an industrial revolution as big as that which occurred in 1766 with the invention of the spinning jenny (see above). “The pedal-powered machine allowed a single person to spin eight cotton threads at a time rather than just one,” wrote James Grubber in this edition […]
Asian Chemical Connections
China Second Quarter Data Underlines Direction
By John Richardson ECONOMIC rebalancing in China isn’t working yet as this excellent article from The Wall Street Journal – summarising China’s second quarter economic data – describes. “Consumption as a share has fallen to 45.2%, down from 60.4% in the first half of 2012. The share of investment has risen to 53.9% from 51.2% over […]
Running Away From Complexity
By John Richardson TWO-and-half years ago, the blog was told of a struggling Shanghai shoe-repair shop owner who had mortgaged himself up to the hilt in order to buy three apartments. “He has taken the risk because he assumes that the government will never let property prices fall,” a sales and marketing manager from […]
Only 4-6 US Cracker Projects Will Happen
By John Richardson ONLY 4-6 of all the above US cracker projects are likely to go ahead as realisation dawns that both demand and feedstock advantage might not be as strong as previously thought, an industry source told the blog. “First of all, companies need to factor into demand and supply forecasts the possibility that […]
China’s Sandwich Generation Revisited
By John Richardson THE sandwich generation in China, those too rich to qualify for social housing but also too poor to pay for ridiculously-overpriced private accommodation in the first-tier cities, is becoming increasingly disillusioned. “We are really tired of claims that inflation is under control, when, in fact, the real inflation numbers are much higher […]
Zero And Declining Growth For China Imports
By John Richardson CHIINA’S ethylene equivalent imports will see zero growth over the next 5-7 years and the country’s propylene equivalent import requirement will decline over the same period, says a source with a major oil, gas and petrochemicals producer. This exceptionally bearish forecast is based on lower demand growth as China undergoes major economic […]
China’s SMEs Face New Lending Problem
By John Richardson CHINA’S small and medium-sized (SMEs) may already be finding it increasingly difficult to source trade finance as a result of the late June credit crackdown warned Winnie Wu, Hong Kong-based research analyst at Merrill Lynch, who was quoted in this article in The Economist. “A tightening of reckless credit is necessary in […]
China Faces Poor Peak Manufacturing Season
By John Richardson DEMAND for chemicals and plastics in Asia should be seasonally robust at this stage of the year, when Chinese companies typically prepare for the peak manufacturing season, but this isn’t happening in 2013, warned Paul Satchell, chemicals analyst with Cannacord Genuity. “Goods are manufactured during August and September [the peak season], for […]
Stock-building Drives China PE Recovery
By John Richardson APPARENT polyethylene (PE) demand in China rose by 10% in January-May of this year compared with the same period in 2011, according to the above chart from Global Trade Information Services (GTIS), which was compiled by fellow blogger Paul Hodges. We worry that this recovery is largely the result of inventory building […]
Europe’s Rubbish Solution
By John Richardson SHALE gas may never be a significant energy solution for Europe because the political challenges are just too great, as this article in the Financial Times points out.For example, the FT writes that: Fracking is banned in France and the Netherlands. The Dutch government scrapped a parliamentary proposal to allow fracking […]
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