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Asian Chemical Connections

Too Good To Last for Asian Petchems? Yes

By John Richardson IT has been a fantastic few months for the integrated Asian polyethylene (PE) producers as the above chart illustrates. You can see that the average price for naphtha was $533/tonne CFR Japan in April. This compared with an average high-density PE (HDPE) price of $1,271/tonne CFR Northeast Asia and an average low-density […]

China’s Latest Interest Rate Cut: The Essential Context

By John Richardson CHINA lowered interest rates for the third time in six months on Sunday in a further attempt to limit the damage caused by economic reforms. The two earlier rate cuts, and February’s reduction in the bank reserve-requirement ratio, were also about limiting the pain resulting from the boldest, most risky set of economic […]

China’s Reform Process Jeopardised

By John Richardson LAST week’s decision by China to give its banks the freedom to compete for borrowers, by removing the floor on lending rates, has been praised by most analysts. “This is one of the biggest steps they could have taken. It tells you something about the trajectory,” Mark Williams, chief economist at Capital […]

China PE Recovery Lacks Firm Foundation

By John Richardson DESPITE a slight pick-up in China’s polyethylene (PE) prices over the last two weeks (see above chart), producers and traders remain gloomy about the immediate outlook. “What has driven prices up is that new supply hasn’t hit the June market in volumes that people expected,” said a source with a global producer. […]

China Chemical Imports Fall On Affordability

By John Richardson China’s petrochemical imports continued to decline in June on tight credit conditions and price rises that deterred consumers, according to our colleagues at ICIS news. Linear-low density polyethylene (LLDPE) imports fell by 18% month-on-month and 3% year-on-year, for example. High-density PE (HDPE) shipments slipped by 4% month-on-month and 8% year-on-year. Benzene shipments halved […]

The Edginess, The Nervousness Continues

By John Richardson THE edgy and nervous nature of the recovery in Asian polyolefin markets became even more apparent from discussions the blog held with traders and producers during a visit to Singapore last week. Such was the uncertainty that there were mid-week reports of falls in pricing. By Friday, though, one producer told us […]

Living In Hope Rather Than Expectation

By John Richardson HOPEFUL theories espoused by traders can sometimes sound a little hollow – as was the case with the one doing the rounds in Asian polyolefin markets late last week. “We think the latest interest rate rise in China will be the last this year and so, in a way, the announcement was good […]

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