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Asian Chemical Connections

China Pulls Back From Funding Other Emerging Markets

By John Richardson IT important to be relentlessly realistic about the risks no confronting emerging markets in general, now that China is focusing much more on its own internal problems and needs. One of these risks – reduced funding of infrastructure and other projects in the emerging world by Chinese banks – was highlighted in this […]

Indonesia Petchem Investments

By John Richardson THE project activity in Indonesia, as the slide above, from our ICIS training Introduction to Petrochemicals Part I training programme, is a little worrying But there is one slight problem here: Demand. In the case of Indonesia, this excellent article in Forbes magazine from economist Jesse Colombo points out that China’s huge […]

Becoming A Chef In Indonesia

An Italian restaurant in Jakarta   By John Richardson ELEVEN-year-old Nurafidah spends her mornings at school and her afternoons hunting for recyclable plastic, aluminium and glass in Jakarta’s giant rubbish dump – Bantar Gebang. She wants to grow up to be a chef. “She is not alone. Many children of the dump are sure they […]

Indonesia: Sweat It Out!

Jakarta at night (source of picture: Wikimedia)   By John Richardson THE blog first visited Indonesia in October 1997, shortly after the onset of the Asian Financial Crisis, and was amazed to think that only a few months earlier, the media was talking of the inevitable rise of Indonesia’s middle class, which was said to […]

Indonesia’s Challenges

By John Richardson INDONESIA was the subject of much enthusiasm when the blog hosted a webinar  on Monday on China Polyolefins Markets. We will provide a link to a recorded version of the event shortly. The reason for the enthusiasm over Indonesia is perhaps because China, and now quite likely India, no longer guarantee strong growth. […]

China Compensation

By John Richardson A MAJOR Southeast Asian polyethylene (PE) producer has reduced its percentage of exports to China from 30-40% in 2012 to just 10% so far this year, a source with the producer told the blog on the sidelines of the Asia Petrochemical Industry Conference (APIC) in Taipei. This is further confirmation of the […]

Southeast Asia ‘s Economic Boom

By John Richardson SOUTHEAST (SEA) polyolefins demand grew by 15-20% last year in some of the region’s emerging countries, such as Indonesia, according to a source with a major global producer. Confidence is high as overseas money pours into super-hot property markets in Indonesia and Thailand. In Indonesia, property prices have risen by as much […]

Indonesia’s “Great Moderation”

Graph prepared by The Economist   By John Richardson INDONESIA has enjoyed eight consecutive quarters of 6% GDP growth and so – along with several other mainly domestically-demand driven Asian economies – is viewed as a haven of stability in an increasingly uncertain world. The country’s 2012 demand growth for polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), polyvinyl chloride (PVC) […]

A Polyolefin Trader’s Perspective

By John Richardson Word for word, see below what an Asian polyolefins trader told us yesterday: “This year has been absolutely terrible, the worst I can remember in eight years in this business, and even worse than 2008. There is just no demand out there. “There was supposed to be a recovery after the Chinese […]

Honam’s next expansion

By Malini Hariharan Honam Petrochemical’s plans for Indonesia appear to be progressing. Company sources told ICIS news yesterday that a feasibility study is underway for a $4-5bn petrochemical complex in Southeast Asia with Indonesia the most likely location. The study is likely to be completed by early 2013. Meanwhile, Indonesia media quoted senior managing director […]

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