…..quite possibly, yes, but it matters not what you say, only how you tell it Source of picture: freelancefolder.com By John Richardson THIS poor mug might well have been the victim of rumours designed to move the daily price of polyethylene (PE) in China late last week. The author of this […]
Asian Chemical Connections
Howling At the Moon And PE Price Discussions
Source of piicture: worldofstock.com By John Richardson CHINA’S surprise decision earlier this week to raise interest rates – the first rate rises since December 2007 – has badly dented sentiment in the polyethylene (PE) market, said a source with a Western producer. But estimates of price direction based on […]
Polyethylene And Alice In Wonderland
Source of picture: the-office.com By John Richardson A FURTHER illustration of the Alice in Wonderland world of financial investors versus the fundamentals of real demand was provided by the Dalian Commodity Exchange earlier this week. “Some investment funds started snapping up linear low density PE (LLDPE) futures in anticipation of improvement in […]
China PE Price Rebound Driven By Futures Market
By John Richardson CHINA’S domestic linear-low density polyethylene (LLDPE) prices have rebounded by as much as Yuan 1,000/tonne ($147.5./tonne) or 8% over the last two weeks, according to this ICIS news article from my colleague Rainy Ma. As these graphs show (click below) there is now a significant gap between more expensive domestic material and […]
China PE, PP Production Up By 30%
By John Richardson and Malini Hariharan CHINA’S polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) production surged in January-June this year as imports remained strong and demand growth declined, according to the Shanghai-based commodity information service, CBI. Hopes being expressed that pricing might have bottomed-out therefore seem a tad premature – especially as Asian cracking operating rates are […]
China Property Sector Dangers Grow
Source of picture: www.chinadigitaltimes.net By John Richardson HOPES for strong China chemicals and polymer demand growth in H2 partly rest on government stimulus money for infrastructure projects compensating for a weakening real-estate sector. Whether its direct consumption of chemicals and polymers, such as the obvious polyvinyl chloride (PVC) – or indirect benefits […]
China PE Market Falls Prey To The Speculators…..
….again By John Richardson THE sharp fall in polyethylene (PE) pricing in China is being blamed on speculative acquisition of cargoes by traders in March and a rise in local production. Apparent consumption (imports plus local production) is reported to have surged to 1.7m tonnes in March and 1.5m tonnes in April compared 1.3m tonnes […]
Crisis of confidence
By Malini Hariharan Asian polyolefins (PO) producers are seeing no signs of an immediate recovery in demand and pricing as buyers in the key China market continue to remain on the sidelines. There are just too many negative factors, says one producer referring to concerns about the economic health of Europe, the Chinese government’s efforts […]
Fall in futures leads physical markets
By Malini Hariharan The weakness in Asian petrochemical markets is continuing with buyers taking cues from developments in the crude oil and stock markets. In polymers, despite a slight rebound in polyethylene (PE) prices late last week the buying sentiment remained negative in China. The mood worsened today following a 5% fall in linear-low density […]
Polyethylene Pricing Separates From Fundamentals
By John Richardson Linear-low density polyethylene (LLDPE) pricing in China has become increasingly divorced from industry fundamentals as a result of the growing role of the Dalian Commodity Exchange’s futures contract, claimed a Singapore-based polyolefin trader late last week. And the contract is setting the physical market, resulting in Dalian performing a similar role that […]