100 million children in developing countries can’t to see the blackboard in school, because of poor eyesight. They need self-adjusting glasses, because of the shortage of optometrists. So the blog was delighted to learn about Dow Corning’s work with the Centre for Vision in the Developing World to overcome this problem. Their new Child ViSion™ […]
Chemicals and the Economy
Super-computers party, as energy markets trade at record ratios
Something very strange has been happening to US energy prices over the past 2 years. The chart above shows the ratio between WTI crude oil pricing and natural gas: • It was between 6.0 and 13.0 for 22 years between 1986-2008, with some minor exceptions, and averaged 9.9. • Yet since January 2009, it has […]
Auto companies face Japan supply chain problems
EU auto sales remained weak in February, and dependent on just 4 countries. As the chart shows (red line), they followed January in being at the bottom of historical monthly sales. Overall, January and February were down 0.3% versus 2010, with 2 million autos sold: • German sales were up 16% at 435K; France was […]
China has “60% risk of banking crisis by 2013”
China’s housing market seems to be facing the threat of a major downturn. That is the only conclusion to be drawn from the rising sense of concern being expressed by policymakers and the official media. Last year, China’s Academy of Social Sciences estimated that “there are 64.5 million empty apartments and houses in China’s urban […]
Japan – the Fukushima nuclear problem explained
It is nearly a week since the Japanese earthquake/tsunami which led to the nuclear emergency at the Fukushima Daiichi complex. Yet information on the actual nature of the problems has been very difficult to obtain. In case readers have experienced the same issue, the blog is reprinting in full the article below from today’s Wall […]
The Potential Impact of the Japan Disaster
Japan’s prime minister has described the current situation as “the country’s worst tragedy since World War 2”, whilst the emperor has said he is “deeply worried“. Certainly, never in our working lives have we faced the combination of an earthquake, a tsunami and a potential nuclear meltdown – all taking place in the world’s 3rd […]
ExxonMobil sees Integration as key strength
The blog is a great believer is learning from the secrets of the world’s most successful chemical companies. Thus it was fascinated to read a report by ICIS’s Stephen Burns of a major speech by ExxonMobil (EM) president Stephen Pryor. Pryor warned that “capturing the benefits of downstream integration requires more than simply co-locating petrochemical […]
Japan’s petchem exports focus on PX and styrene
The blog is still shocked by the terrible events in Japan. It would like to express its deepest sympathy to all those who have suffered loss. For those of us far away from the disaster, life has to go on. It will be some time before its full impact becomes clear. But in a crisis […]
US households cut debt to 6 year low
The US economy is worth $15trn, 24% of the global economy. Domestic consumption, accounts for 70% of the US total. This means the US consumer represents 17% of the global economy. China’s economy, although the 2nd largest in the world, is just $5.7trn. And its domestic consumption is much smaller, representing only 3% of the […]
Global financial markets at important crossroads
Stock markets around the world are at an important crossroads. The blog’s regular <a href="https://www.icis.com/chemicals-and-the-economy/2010/09/global-markets-decoupled-over.6 monthly review compares today’s market levels with their 2007/8 pre-Crisis peaks. And as can be seen, none have yet hit a new high. This is quite surprising, given the scale of the G20 and central bank stimulus/liquidity packages over the […]
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