Home Blogs Asian Chemical Connections

Asian Chemical Connections

India PVC Reflects Macro Problems

By John Richardson WHAT is happening in India’s polyvinyl chloride (PVC) sector reflects some of the macro-economic challenges we discussed earlier this week. An additional 8.5m tonnes of PVC pipes demand could be generated in the space of just five years if the government can get its act together on economic reform, said an Indian […]

BRICS Version 2

Mind the gap – India’s rich and poor     Source of graph: http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/sonalde-desai-the-great-indian-poverty-game/469351/   By John Richardson INDIA’S economy is expected to grow at its slowest pace for a decade as a result of political gridlock, tight monetary policy and the weak global economy, according to a Reuters’ poll of economists. As we discussed […]

A Call To Action

We are about to set out on a great journey as the world transitions to the New Normal. The reason for the journey is that the world economy has changed irrevocably as a result of the financial crisis and the demand changes created by the ageing of the Western BabyBoomers. There is no going back. […]

BASF Highlights Changes In Growth

  Martin Brudermüller Source of picture: BASF   By John Richardson “THE struggle over China’s future direction seems to be harder fought than we had imagined,” said BASF vice chairman Martin Brudermüller last Thursday, in a German newspaper interview. “There are very intensive discussions being held in China about the direction the country should take. […]

Hits And Misses For Indian Projects

By Malini Hariharan The Indian project scene continues to see some hits and misses. Among the projects on track, sources at Gail (India) told the blog last week that expansion of its Pata cracker and a new polyethylene (PE) plant will be completed in Q1 2014. Mechanical completion is due in December 2013,, while commissioning […]

The Great Opportunities Ahead

  The blog is taking a break for the festive season (we will back on Thursday next week before, of course, closing-down again over the New Year period).  We would like to wish all of our readers a very happy holiday season and successful 2012.  Before we take our leave, here are a few thoughts […]

India Needs A New Political Direction

Manmohan Singh compromises to the point where “policy has no direction” Source of picture: Wikipedia   By John Richardson IN A week during which the Eurozone could quite easily break-up, the influence that individual political leaders will have on shaping our economic future has been thrown in to further stark relief. And in some countries it […]

Don’t shoot the messenger

By Malini Hariharan There is a lot of free price information and advice available to Indian polymer buyers via emails and SMSs. The gist of the messages these days is that the Chinese market is weak, international and domestic prices will fall and buying should be in limited volumes. An email that landed in the […]

New Normal Course In Frankfurt On 16-17 June

The blog is excited about its first New Normal seminar in Frankfurt, Germany this month. It follows February’s successful launch in Singapore, and is being held in association with International eChem on 16-17 June. The Workshop aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the factors that will impact the petrochemical market over the next few years: […]

Global Polyolefins At A Tipping Point

By John Richardson A GLOBAL slowdown in manufacturing is already being reflected in European and US polyolefin markets as anxiety in the industry grows over the prospects for the rest of this year. European June contract prices for ethylene and propylene have declined after seven consecutive months of increases. Ethylene contracts have slipped by Euros45/tonne […]

Jump to page: