What would you have done 5 years ago, in 2009, if you had been given $16tn to restore global economic growth? Would you have boosted spending in areas such as education, health and infrastructure in the belief this would create a sustained boost to economic capability? Would you have cut taxes in order to encourage entrepreneurs to develop new businesses and promote […]
Chemicals and the Economy
China auto sales jump to meet pollution quota deadline
China’s auto sales moved past Europe’s in 2010, and are now close to US levels. But even China is not expected to maintain this surge in 2014. As the chart above shows, sales soared in the past few months (red line) versus 2012 (green). But as the automotive association explains, this was mainly because: “Panic consumption over […]
China auto sales could drop if lending squeeze continues
Imagine for a moment that you had become president or premier of China following the leadership transition in March. You know that the country’s economic model has to change. But you also know that you have to carefully develop your powerbase, whilst also putting in place new policies. Probably you would take things cautiously at […]
“No pain, no gain” the outlook for China in 2014
Its been a great year for polyethylene (PE) demand growth in China. But whether this relates to real or speculative demand, and whether it will continue next year, is another story. As the chart shows, with trade data from Global Trade Information Services: Overall demand has surged 14% in 2013 (red column) versus 2011 (blue) […]
European oil travels the world as market complacency increases
The blog has a suggestion for a quiz question for anyone planning party games over the Christmas period: Q. What was the longest distance travelled by a cargo of crude oil in 2013? A. 9000 km (5500 miles) from Scotland to China Isn’t that amazing? We are constantly being told that supply is short, and that today’s high prices are […]
China and NEA’s ‘demographic dividend’ turns to deficit
October’s post ‘Women now have half the number of children compared to 1950‘ attracted great interest amongst blog readers from around the world. It highlighted how global life expectancy has risen 50% since 1950 to average 70 years. Over the same period, the average number of children being born has halved to just 2.5 per woman. It thus suggested today’s […]
EU, US caustic soda output slows as China’s exports rise
Chlorine and caustic soda are some of the most widely used chemicals. Thus their performance is always a valuable leading indicator for the wider chemical industry and the economy itself. So the chart above, based on Eurochlor data, is a worrying sign: Chlorine production is down by 1.9% in 2013, after a 2.9% fall in 2012 Caustic […]
China focuses on the need for jobs, as Western companies reshore production
Its all about jobs. That’s the clear message from this month’s critical Economic Plenum in China, confirming the blog’s analysis back in February 2012. Of course, there was a lot of detail about future reform plans, which will certainly help to move the country’s economy in the right direction. But in the short-term, the key […]
Asian ethylene margins soar on China stimulus, plant outages
Volatility is one of the blog’s key themes for the next few years, as the world transitions to slower growth and a more regional economy. And the chart above from the latest ICIS pricing Asian ethylene margin report highlights this new trend very well: Margins jumped 42% last week to reach $290/t, based on naphtha […]
China’s PVC demand confirms need for economic policy changes
China’s new leadership have a double task as they head into Saturday’s critical economic plenum, which will decide policy for the next 10 years. On the one hand they have to avoid the appearance of crisis, and ‘keep the show on the road’. It would be fatal to allow their agenda to be hijacked by […]
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