By John Richardson DESPITE a slight pick-up in China’s polyethylene (PE) prices over the last two weeks (see above chart), producers and traders remain gloomy about the immediate outlook. “What has driven prices up is that new supply hasn’t hit the June market in volumes that people expected,” said a source with a global producer. […]
Asian Chemical Connections
China’s SMEs Continue To Struggle
By John Richardson ONE of the reasons why China’s polyethylene (PE) demand growth has been below the increase in overall GDP for most of the years since 2006 has been the relatively weak performance of the country’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). As the state has advanced, the private sector has retreated because most of […]
China’s Environmental Balancing Act
A woman wearing a mask looks across the Pudong on 16 January this year Source of picure: Zuma/Rex Features By John Richardson A DISPUTE between state-owned refiners Sinopec and PetroChina and environmental regulators serves as a good example of the difficulties China faces in reforming its growth model. The debate about the environment is […]
China’s Risky New Lending Surge
By John Richardson BANK lending is once again surging in China as politicians try to shore up their support ahead of the leadership transition. “The central government has approved up to 7 trillion yuan ($1.2bn) for infrastructure investments since May to spur growth,” wrote the China Daily. This represents 15% of GDP. Real-estate loans in […]
Wen’s Last Reform Push
By John Richardson Wen Jiabao has been at it again. His extraordinarily strong comments on Tuesday follow those he made last month about the risks of a return to the economic chaos of the Cultural Revolution. On this latest occasion, he has taken aim at the state-owned banks. China’s premier, who is to relinquish power […]
“Known Unknowns” And China
By John Richardson IF the blog had a dollar for every time we had read reports about Chinese growth being constantly buoyed by rising domestic income levels and increasing urbanisation, we would probably be as rich as a mid-level executive in a state-owned enterprise (in other words, very rich – way beyond such an executive’s […]
September Will Be A Cruel Month
By John Richardson SEPTEMBER is going to be a cruel month when the West returns from the summer holiday period and the extent of damage to chemicals and polymer demand becomes more apparent. In Asia, temporary supply constraints in polyolefins, paraxylene (PX) and styrene monomer (SM) have disguised the damage. These constraints will at some point ease, leading […]
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