By John Richardson A collapse in the price of oil would expose petrochemicals producers, buyers and traders who have built- up stocks. They built up inventories because oil was on the way up earlier this year. And they were also encouraged to stock-up because of more confidence over the Eurozone, relative to Q4 last […]
Asian Chemical Connections
Formosa’s troubles deepen, markets rally on supply concerns
By Malini Hariharan The latest accident at Formosa Petrochemical Corp’s (FPCC) refinery at Mailiao, Taiwan, on Sunday is adding to the bullish sentiment in markets for key petrochemicals. A fire in the propylene recovery unit has forced the company to close its 540,000 bbls/day refinery and related facilities, including two residual fluid catalytic cracking units […]
Managing expectations
By Malini Hariharan A spurt in Chinese buying enquiries in the last few days has awakened hopes in some quarters of an upturn in polyolefin pricing with one trader predicting a $50-70/tonne rise in the coming weeks. The prediction, he says, is based on his experience with the commodity cycle – as buyers in China […]
Asian Ethylene, PE Declines Continue
By John Richardson ASIAN ethylene and polyethylene (PE) margins both fell last week – a further indication that the Chinese market remains weak. Bonded warehouses are still full of PE as a result of high imports in March at a time when local production was being ramped up, the blog was told this morning. But […]
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