BASF opened its first China plant 20 years ago. Its Asian strategy focuses on China, Japan, S Korea and India. Thus yesterday’s comments by vice chairman Martin Brudermüller deserve careful study by any company or investor who is interested in the outlook for the region. The background was an unexpected 5% fall in BASF’s regional […]
Chemicals and the Economy
US PE exporters face more competition in Brazil
As promised, the blog looks today at the performance of US polyethylene (PE) exporters in Brazil. It was the fastest-growing of the major markets in 2011, as the wider economy benefitted from China’s demand. Since 2008, Brazil’s PE net imports have grown 78%, from 445KT to 793KT in 2011. But as the chart shows (based […]
US exports to China fall, as cost advantage grows
US petchem producers are planning a major boost to ethylene capacity. They now have the 2nd cheapest feedstock in the world, due to ethane from shale gas. The only question is, where will they sell their product? Ethylene, of course, is very expensive to export. So derivatives such as polyethylene (PE) are the main way […]
China’s PE market down 2.5% in H1
China’s surging demand led the chemical world out of recession and into boom territory. Its 53% increase in polyethylene (PE) demand between 2008 – 2010 (up 6.2 MT), was typical of the support it provided. But H1 2011 has not maintained this momentum, as the chart shows. Its PE demand was actually down 2.5% versus […]
China’s PE imports slip: Middle East gains market share
China has been the main source of chemical and polymer demand growth over the past 2 years. But newly released trade data suggests its import volume on core products such as polyethylene may now be reducing, as more domestic capacity comes online. Equally, Asian producers, and the USA, face strong competition from low-cost Middle East […]
Honam’s Malaysia buy opens SEA market share battle
Over-capacity is going to be a major issue for the petchem industry over the next few years. Asian producers, in particular, are likely to be worst impacted. The reason is that they have relied on exports to China taking up to 50% of their production. But now China’s own production is ramping up, reducing the […]
Regional competition set to grow in Asia, as export opportunities reduce and imports increase
The above chart presents an excellent snapshot of the development of Asia’s chemical industry over the past 20 years. It comes from the American Chemistry Council’s global production report, and shows volume growth in each country/region, with a base of 100 in 2002. • China (blue line) has seen the largest growth over the past […]
Middle East, Chinese, petchem capacity starts to arrive
The blog spent a fruitful afternoon last week, going through ICIS news reports of cracker start-ups in the Middle East and China. The chart above is the fruit of its labours, which shows that 4.8MT of ethylene capacity started up last year in the ME, and 2.1MT in China. Whilst latest estimates suggest that another […]
Japan’s exports fall record 49%, China builds inventory
Japan’s auto exports tumbled 71% in February, and its US exports fell 58%, causing total exports to decline 49%. Imports also fell 43%. Exports to China, however, were ‘only’ down 40%. And other NEA exporters, more dependent on Chinese markets, showed an improving position. S Korea’s exports were only down 17%, versus -34% in January. […]