What follows is an entirely personal take on the challenge of plastic waste and does not represent the views of ICIS or any other expert opinion I have sought out. The views are put forward in the spirit of debate as we move forward, as an industry, to solve the crisis of plastic waste. By […]
Asian Chemical Connections
Developing world polymers demand unlikely to see quick rebound
By John Richardson THIS IS a tragedy in the genuine sense of the word, not just in the so-often misused sense of the word : a study earlier this year by the United Nations University said that as many as 580m additional people could be pushed into extreme poverty by the pandemic, or about 8% […]
Southeast Asia polyolefins demand may fall by as much as during Asian Financial Crisis
By John Richardson HOW do you replace anywhere between 9% and 18% of GDP when it has virtually disappeared overnight and there is little prospect of it coming back during the rest of 2020? This is one of the challenges Thailand faces because of the collapse of tourism. Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and the Philippines, […]
Plastics rubbish and the developing world: Lost petrochemicals demand and the new service-led approach
By John Richardson IT WAS billed as a liberating product, something that brought a little luxury to the lives of the very poor. That’s how the single-serve pouch was marketed. But nobody thought enough about the environmental impact of selling single measures of say shampoo in these pouches to people in countries such as India […]
Southeast Asia PE spreads further underline weak demand, but trade talks promise rebound
By John Richardson THE GOOD news today is that the US and China have agreed to resume trade talks. Presidents Trump and Xi are also scheduled to meet at the G20 meeting in Osaka, Japan, on Saturday – 29 June – to discuss the trade dispute. If a trade deal is done, or at the […]
Plastics pollution crisis: Impact on polyethylene margins in 2022-2027
By John Richardson ALMOST all countries late last week signed a UN deal to monitor the flow of hard-to-recycle plastics to poorer countries. The US was amongst the few countries which declined to sign the agreement. The deal is the result of the increase in contaminated plastic waste exports to Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam etc. […]
Don’t Forget Turkey And Its Importance To Global Polyolefins
By John Richardson YOU might well have forgotten the Turkish lira crisis because of the US/China trade war. But Turkey is crucial for the health of the global polyolefins business because of the size of its imports. Before the US fell out with Turkey, resulting in the collapse of the lira, we had expected that […]
Turkey Crisis: Implications For Polyolefins And Global Economy
By John Richardson THE first ramification of the Turkey crisis is that the collapse of the lira raises questions over how Turkish importers will be able to afford the dollars to pay for some of the polyolefins imported since the crisis began. Then comes the issue of what happens to Turkish polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene […]
China Lending Bubble Adds 4.7m Tonnes To Polyethylene Consumption
By John Richardson THE IMF produced a very interesting study earlier this month, in which it estimated that if it had not been for China’s giant economic stimulus programme the country’s real GDP growth would have averaged only 5.3% per annum during the five years to 2016. Instead, however, the IMF estimates that China’s economy […]
Indonesia: Seize The Day
By John Richardson IT WAS criminally wrong. Yes, criminally wrong. Financial speculators drove up the price oil to $100 a barrel and more, which forced developing countries to waste many billions of dollars on fuel subsidies. This was money that should and could have been spent on better infrastructure, education, healthcare and sanitation. The irony […]
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