It is hard to believe that the blog has now been running for 9 years. Over 2000 posts have been published, and its readership continues to expand across the world, with the Top 15 countries currently including: USA, UK, Germany, India, Netherlands, Canada, Singapore, Australia, France, Spain, Italy, S Korea, China, Japan and Taiwan Readers […]
Chemicals and the Economy
US polypropylene imports rise as China aims for self-sufficiency
Difficult times lie ahead for global polymer markets, as I note in a new analysis for ICIS Chemical Business. In the short-term it is clear that downstream users have, once again, been busy building stock in recent weeks as the oil price rose. But now, finance directors are getting calls from their bankers asking about […]
UK’s Brexit vote may lead to end of schoolboy politics
Until recently, the job description for UK (and most Western) politicians has been fairly simple – look good on television, and only say something when it has been approved by a focus group. The reward was the ability to jet off to important sounding meetings of the G7 and G20, and have agreeable dinners at […]
Global economy in further downturn, even before Brexit
Global chemical industry sales are around $3tn a year, close to 5% of global GDP. They are even larger when converted into all the products that we actually use on a day-to-day basis such as plastics, coatings, fibres, agrochemicals etc. And thanks to the American Chemistry Council, we have near real-time data of core trends […]
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