China’s LLDPE demand grew by just 1% last year, below market expectations, with further 2022 downward pressure likely on Common Prosperity and Zero COVID
Asian Chemical Connections
Latest data indicate 37% fall in China’s 2021 HDPE imports with PP imports 49% lower
By John Richardson DECLINES IN Chinese apparent demand for high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and polypropylene (PP) gathered pace in January-April 2021: January-April 2021 apparent demand for HDPE fell by 12% to to 5.5m tonnes versus the last four months of 2020. This compared with an 8% decline in Q1 2021 over Q4 2020. PP apparent consumption […]
China’s polyethylene imports set to remain very strong in 2021
By John Richardson DEMAND, as I discussed on 11 February, will not be a problem for the global polyethylene (PE) business in 2021. We could see a continuation of the pandemic-related demand patterns we saw in 2020 if say problems with variants of the virus prevent us from moving significantly closer to herd immunity. The […]
Japan Consolidation Continues
Source: Japan Petrochemical Industry Association By John Richardson JAPAN’S petrochemicals industry remains in consolidation mode, as my ICIS colleague Nigel Davis writes in this article. And, as the chart above shows, Japan’s ethylene output continues to fall. It was down 8% to 6.146 million tonnes in 2012 year-on-year. Future consolidation includes: *Mitsubishi Chemical’s planned closure of […]
Hallucinatory Effects
By John Richardson THE reasons cited for last week’s global sell-off in stock markets (see the above chart of the Nikkei up until Thursday last week) were concerns over volatility in the Japanesegovernment bond market and the economic slowdown in China. Some investors, however, believe that markets have just taken a pause for breath as a result of profit […]
Japan Disaster – Update On Lost Production
By John Richardson and Nigel Davis THE humanitarian side of this disaster is foremost in everyone’s minds with more than 18,000 people now estimated to have died in the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. Of equal concern is the crisis at the country’s stricken nuclear power plants which the International Atomic Agency describes as “very serious”. […]
Japan Disaster – Lost Production Update
By Nigel Davis For some, life goes on. For others, everything is lost. An email to the BBC on Tuesday from a resident in Mie, Japan, 350 miles from the stricken nuclear power plants on the east coast of the country, described a relatively normal day. Utilities are available but people are feeling nervous and […]
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