CHINA’S imports from the US surge by 220% in January-May 2023 as local production falls by 11% and as imports decline from Singapore, South Korea and Thailand.
Asian Chemical Connections
China, demographics, debt and polymers demand
China’s polymers consumption in 2022 107m tonnes from a population of 1.4bn. The developing world ex-China’s consumption was at 84m tonnes from a population of 5.3bn. And the developed world consumed 82m from 1.1bn people.
China Still A Long Way From Solving Its Demographic Crisis
SO much for a new demographic dividend, as we warned last November when China announced that it had relaxed its one-child policy. If you recall, Beijing decided that couples would be allowed to have two children if just one of them was an only child. The previous system stipulated that both parents had to be only […]
Demographics Threaten China Property Collapse
By John Richardson THE persistent weakness in China’s petrochemicals markets had mainly been caused by problems in the country’s property sector, according to many delegates on the sidelines of last week’s Asia Petrochemical Industry Conference (APIC) in Pattaya, Thailand. Here are some worrying numbers that help to explain this view: China’s real-estate sales declined by […]
China: No New “Demographic Dividend”
By John Richardson ANOTHER, on the surface, stunning announcement last Friday – along with promises of root and branch economic reforms – was China’s decision to relax its one-child policy. All of these announcements followed the conclusion of last week’s crucial Third Plenum. From now on, couples will be allowed to have two children if […]
China Labour Supply Threatens Productivity Growth
Chart compiled by the China Real Time Report blog. By John Richardson NOBODY should be surprised about what is happening in China’s petrochemicals markets, as the signs have been there for many months that economic rebalancing would have to accelerate. This could be marvellous news in the long term for domestic consumption growth, but […]
India’s “Booming” Middle Class
In the second of our series of posts on Asian demographics, we look at India. Yesterday, we summarised the overall challenges. By John Richardson INDIA is the home of a booming middle class that voraciously consumes I-Phones, I-Pads, BMWs, foreign travel etc – all the trappings of a Western lifestyle. All that the chemicals industry […]
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