By John Richardson MONITORING demand has never been harder because of the pandemic. One of my colleagues on the ICIS Pricing team was, for example, last week told by one of his reliable contacts that polyethylene (PE) demand was good, bad or indifferent. It used to be that if you talked to the people you […]
Chemical Connections
China’s new five-year-plan to accelerate petrochemicals self-sufficiency
By John Richardson IT IS ONCE again a critical moment in forecasting the direction of China’s petrochemicals industry and with it, of course, the direction of the global industry, as the global industry so heavily depends on China. If China’s deficits were to entirely disappear, what would many of us then do for a […]
Chemical Data acquisition streamlines global packaging benchmark solution
Amid these uncertain times, it’s easy for businesses to slam on the brakes on investment and focus on core operations in the hopes of riding out the economic storm. But companies rooted in strong foundations find ways to continue investing during such times, with a keen eye on growth now and accelerated growth post-crisis. That […]
Is your chemical market three-dimensional?
How can an understanding beyond the linear chemical chain bring value to sourcing teams? Back in the time when companies visited clients in person at their offices (i.e. the first week of March), I presented on market trends to a sourcing team that purchases a wide assortment of the raw materials ICIS covers. What made […]