The world has changed for good. Old ways of running petrochemicals businesses no longer work. Click here for details on an important new ICIS/International eChem study that will help you prosper in this radically different environment. And see below for a brief outline of one of the key themes that we shall explore in the […]
Asian Chemical Connections
How 3D Printing Means No Repeat Of China’s Growth Story
By John Richardson AS you can see from the above chart, China’s percentage share of the global polypropylene (PP) market has risen from 15% of consumption in 2000 to 33% in 2014. During the same period, however, India’s share of worldwide consumption only rose from 7% to 9%. This kind of chart is used as […]
China Would Be The Only Winner From A Price War
By John Richardson IT IS dangerously wrong to still think of China as just a cheap, copycat low-value manufacturing nation. Yes, cheap, agreed, and to begin with, as was the case with the US, it has copied other countries’ technologies. But forget low value, as China’s extraordinary growth in the smartphones business indicates. Eventually in […]
The World Is Turning Upside Down
By John Richardson A COMMON view is that Asia’s petrochemicals markets are merely suffering from a temporary destocking phrase, driven by the collapse in crude-oil prices. So when crude oil prices settle down, everything will be fine. Many people also assume that the current widespread “buyers’ strike” is the result of seasonal factors – i.e. […]
Why Should China Be Any Different From The US?
By John Richardson THE complacent, yesterday’s wisdom about China is that it will remain a major importer of lots of petrochemicals for many years to come. If you have already stuck your neck out to support a project that will be substantially reliant on exports to China, it might feel like the right choice to […]
China’s Petchem Markets Contradict Latest PMI
By John Richardson IF you study China’s petrochemicals markets on a regular basis they tell you something very important: That despite persistent efforts to tighten-up supply across several sectors in order to entice end-users into stock building, “hand-to-mouth” purchasing remains their policy. For example, polypropylene (PP) import prices firmed on a heavy turnaround season in […]
China: The Politics Behind The “Recovery”
By John Richardson THE overall HSBC flash purchasing managers’ index for January, which was released yesterday, was at a two-year high (see the above chart), with the sub-index of production at a 22-month high. This is great news for equity values and commodity prices, including petrochemicals. We might well see a rally in petrochemicals prices at […]
Labour Supply After Chinese New Year
Chinese job seekers at a recruitment fair Imaginechina/Rex Features By John Richardson As petrochemicals markets begin to slow down ahead of the Chinese New Year, which this year falls on 10 February, a lot of attention is, as always, being focused on the likely strength of demand after the holidays. The hope is that […]
China Polyolefin Buyers Smell Blood……
…..but time to party for some thanks to re-exports to Brazil Source of picture: edgsgonesouth.com By John Richardson It’s a funny old world – or so it seems in poylolefins at the moment as traders re-export resin from China to Latin America and elsewhere. “I phoned up a trader in China the other day […]
SEA Chemicals Need To Learn From The Past
By John Richardson THE whinging is getting almost unbearable in Southeast Asia over the Asean-China Free-Trade Agreement (ACFTA). The deal was under discussion for EIGHT years and yet chemicals and polymer producers and customers seem to have left it until after-the-fact to start raising objections. Indonesian industry association representatives have gone as far as to […]
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