The blog was in Brussels this week, chairing the ICIS European Purchasing Conference. It was a packed room. Buyers are clearly very concerned about the high level of current raw material prices, and their volatility. I was also interviewed by ICIS’ Will Beacham. The discussion covered: • The effect of high oil prices on demand […]
Chemicals and the Economy
CEOs face dilemma over their outlook forecast
Chemical companies are about to report excellent results for Q1. Those upstream may well record even higher profits than in 2007/8. CEOs and CFOs therefore face a critical decision. Do they assume today’s trends will continue, and forecast excellent profits for the rest of the year? This would be very tempting, and is clearly the […]
Aromatics markets stumble
The aromatics market is a very liquid market compared to other chemical markets. It is an excellent leading indicator for industry pricing and volume trends, and forecast the current rally in April 2009. The chart above shows how Brent crude oil prices have moved since January 2009 (purple line), versus China’s prices for PTA (terephthalic […]
Japan’s Fukushima disaster equal to Chernobyl
Finally, the authorities have admitted that the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear problem is very serious, and still unresolved. Its rating has now been raised to 7, the highest possible – equal to the Chernobyl disaster. The picture, from the Wall Street Journal, shows the state of the reactor building on Sunday. Equally, the impact on the […]
The crude oil mania has its own illusion
The blog spent much of 2007/8 warning of the likely impact of high oil prices on chemical demand. It was then renamed ‘The Crystal Blog’ in November 2008, as the full extent of the problems finally became clear. Today we are back in the danger-zone. The chart above shows annual oil prices since 1970 – […]
China’s Dalian trading suggests trouble lies ahead
They don’t ring bells at market tops, to warn about what might happen next. But the above chart may turn out to be the next best thing. It shows the relationship between WTI crude oil prices (blue line) versus LLDPE (linear low density polyethylene, red line) on China’s Dalian futures exchange. The exchange has been […]
New Normal seminar and e-book to be launched
The blog has an incredibly loyal following around the world. 24% of its readers visit twice a week, or more. They also recommend it to colleagues. Visitor numbers jumped 50% last month.The issue is the rising uncertainty over the outlook for the world economy. This has clear potential to cause problems for the chemical industry.The […]
$25bn M&A surge suggests market top is close
Financial markets are different from other markets. And the way we relate to them is different too. Shops, for example, would never seek to win new customers by advertising ‘Prices increased 10% last week’. Instead, they splash red signs across their windows featuring their ‘new, lower prices’. But sellers of financial products do the exact […]
Speculative volume soars in oil markets
Crude oil has been a speculators’ paradise for the past 9 months. Central banks have been making large amounts of cash available at 0% interest. In turn, this has funded larger and larger speculative positions in financial and commodity markets. CME, the world’s largest derivatives market, saw volume up 31% in March vs 2010. The […]
Tokyo queues for torches, not iPads
Sadly, we still seem no closer to a solution to Japan’s nuclear nightmare at the Fukushima Daiichi plants. It is now certain that there will be no quick ‘return to normal’. Tokyo itself accounts for ~40% of Japan’s economy. And life there is already quite different from its pre-disaster pattern, with all non-essential lighting dimmed […]
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