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Asian Chemical Connections

Selecting China’s Losers From Its Winners

By John Richardson WE know that: China’s Total Social Financing (TSF) was down by 18% in January-April 2015 on a year-on-year basis. TSF is the measure of total credit growth in the economy, from both the state-owned banks and the privately-run shadow-banking system. Lending from the state-controlled banks was up by just 14% as shadow […]

European Petchems: A Great Year For Some

By John Richardsn A brilliant seven months or a collapse in average profitability to its lowest level since end-2009 are two radically different takes on the fortunes of European petrochemicals so far this year. The description of a brilliant January-to-August was given to my colleague Nel Weddle, European olefins editor for ICIS pricing, by a […]

Making Everyone Feel A Little Bit Middle Class

Far more choices now… Source of picture: www.mhhe.com/business     By John Richardson THE nature of demand growth in emerging markets is a subject the blog has paid some attention to over the last few weeks. Taking advantage of this growth will require the ability to innovate in order to tap into the huge opportunities […]

Saudi Private Petchem Cos To Consolidate

A-Jubail in Saudi Arabia Source of picture: www.chemicals-technology.com   By John Richardson SOME of the privately-owned Saudi Arabian petrochemical producers could well be forced to consolidate as a result of lack of feedstock for expansions, an industry source told the blog yesterday. The private players in Saudi Arabia are listed on the local stock exchange, but […]

China – An Opportunity And Threat

  Source of picture: Dachangplastic.com   By John Richardson WHAT a difference ten years have made in the plastics processing industry, according to a Southeast Asian converter who sees China’s machinery=manufacturing prowess as an opportunity and threat. “Ten years ago I considered buying a process machine from the US for $300,000 but it was just […]

The Philippines: Left With the Crumbs

“Here’s your entire allocation for this month” Source of Picture: Adammakwright.wordpress In the words of a plastics converter from the Philippines: “Markets are so tight at the moment that we are left to pick up the crumbs. Suppliers are concentrating almost entirely on China.” The converters have been waiting for so long for the great […]

Don’t You Wish You Could Be Yourself?

Picture: The Daily Mail Ok, I lied – I am having trouble getting back into my petrochemicals bubble and so this post is not about polypropylene. Apologies to all those disappointed C3 H6 molecules out there. I was sharing lunch with a highly demotivated Singapore-based chemicals industry employee recently and the great British 1970s sitcom, […]

If manufacturers started buying up their suppliers….

This excellent article from The Economist about vertical integration got me thinking that if, say, auto makers start buying up parts suppliers in developed markets (in developing markets the plastics processing industry is too fragmented) we could end up facing a whole new set of industry dynamics. Buying up your supplier, or at least offering […]

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