The central bankers’ bank (the Bank for International Settlements) is not very impressed with its members’ efforts over the past year. Readers may remember that the BIS Report last year explicitly warned of the problems that were about to occur in world financial markets. This year’s Report expresses its disappointment about what central banks did […]
Chemicals and the Economy
The blog’s first birthday
Its now a year since the blog started. Since then, 213 postings have appeared. It is now read in 72 countries and 620 cities (shown above). Most encouragingly, readership continues to steadily increase. Since January, it has risen a further 301%. The blog’s aim is to identify ‘the influences that may shape the chemical industry […]
US auto sales collapse in June
‘Collapse’ is not a word that should be used lightly in business. But there is no other way to describe June’s US auto sales figures:
Chemicals feel the wind of change
Three major themes ( ICIS Jun08.pdf ) emerged from our Asian Conference last week, co-organised with ICIS: • Change. The world is clearly changing very rapidly. Feedstock prices are rising. At the same time, major new capacity is starting to come on-stream in the Middle East, and in Asia. • Complexity. There are many more […]
Gazprom challenges OPEC
Alexei Miller, CEO of Gazprom, believes ‘that OPEC doesn’t have any real influence on the global oil market nowadays’. Interviewed by the Financial Times, he claimed that ‘not a single decision has been passed of late that would really influence the global oil market’. And he repeated his suggestion that oil could reach $250/bbl, noting […]
A commodities ‘Super Cycle’
Oil prices at $140/bbl caused plenty of debate in Bangkok this week at our Asian conference (jointly organised with ICIS). Delegates also heard from Reliance’s President of Fibre Intermediates, Rajen Udeshi, on the potential for a new commodities ‘Super Cycle’ to be underway. Discussing the above chart, he pointed out that the industrialisation of China […]
P&G reviews its supply chain model
Higher oil prices will change the way that Procter & Gamble operates its supply chain. The world’s largest consumer products company describes its current operations as being ‘upside down’. ‘They were implemented in the 1980s and 1990s, when oil was 10 bucks a barrel’, according to Keith Harrison, P&G’s head of global supply.
Israel’s training exercise worries oil markets
The US has now confirmed what oil traders have been suspecting – that Israel is preparing for a bombing raid on Iran’s alleged nuclear facilities. According to Bloomberg and the New York Times, around 100 Israeli aircraft took part in a full-scale training exercise in early June. The distance it involved, 900 miles, is apparently […]
A new ‘North-South dialogue’
I’ve read several reports on the outcome of the Jeddah oil ‘summit’, and still feel no wiser than last week:
Agriculture – the new focus for chemical demand
A first visit to Cambodia. I’m here en route to our Asian Conference in Bangkok, and the picture shows the famous line of Buddhas at Angkor Wat. But the main topic of conversation when talking to local people is the high cost of food and energy. With wages averaging $30 – $35 a week, these […]
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