John Richardson’s Asian Chemicals Connections looks at Asian and global commodity chemicals and polymer pricing trends, supply and demand, macroeconomics, energy and environmental issues.
By John Richardson IN THIS Western-centric world, a huge amount of ink is split over the consequences of US presidential elections and this year’s the poll, which as always takes place in November, is no exception. The result will of course have huge global economic and geopolitical consequences. But I believe that the outcomes...
Note that all the comparisons in this post are on a year-on-year basis unless otherwise stated By John Richardson THE ABOVE chart, completing my analy...
ReadNote that all the data comparisons below are on a year-on-year basis By John Richardson THE PROVERBIAL light bulb came on early last month, tha...
ReadBy John Richardson SOMETHING very strange is happening in China’s polyester industry which has enormous implications for the global industry, as ICI...
ReadBy John Richardson IF IT were easy, then there would be an oversupply of owners of large yachts in Monte Carlo. But understanding China has never been...
ReadGuest blogger, Paul Hodges looks behind today's headlines and studies key influencers shaping the chemical industry over the next 12-18 months. He takes a closer look at oil prices, economic growth and the environment among other things, along with some light-hearted commentary along the way.
Last Wednesday, I gave the opening presentation for the ICIS PET Conference and looked at whether the global economy is seeing a Rebound or a full Recovery after the lockdowns? It covered a wide range of topics: Chemicals’ Capacity Utilisation is the best leading indicator for the global economy, and it continues to weaken Central...
I warned before the June 2016 Brexit referendum that Brexit was all about politics, and Boris Johnson’s bid to become prime minister: “All...
ReadNEW YORK (ICIS)–There will be a paradigm shift away from mega crackers producing massive volumes of plastics for export, and toward local recycl...
ReadThe chemical industry is the best leading indicator for the global economy. On Friday, I had the privilege of discussing a wide range of key issues wi...
ReadICIS energy editors post their expert opinions on the major topics facing participants in the European gas, electricity, LNG and oil markets. This blog will look behind the headlines and critically analyse the impact of market developments on the industry, with some more light-hearted posts thrown in for good humour.
Spot LNG prices for front-month cargoes started to climb from their previous rock-bottom levels during the four weeks from mid-July to mid-August. Higher prices came as the market’s attention started to move towards the winter, and on the back of some unexpected production outages in Australia. The ICIS EAX price for spot LNG deliveries to...
So, once the Democrats conclude this week’s first ever virtual convention held by a US political party, we will finally be able stop calling Joe Bid...
ReadSpot LNG prices remain at rock-bottom levels despite major cuts to global production, especially from the US. The ICIS EAX price for spot LNG deliveri...
ReadToday marks the first day of the second half of 2020, and as I’m sure you will all agree, a lot has changed in six months. If you can all cast your ...
ReadSpot LNG prices remained very weak in the period from mid-May to mid-June. Growing numbers of US cargo cancellations being planned across the summer h...
ReadThe ICIS Chemical connections blog delves into the chemicals and commodities behind some of the world’s biggest companies. Daniel tracks and provides analysis on 167 companies in the oil and gas, commodities, chemicals, speciality chemicals, plastics, packaging and fertilizers markets and Jeremy analyses macro and micro trends affecting the North American chemicals industry, from olefins, aromatics and solvents to general-purpose and engineered plastics.
Anyone ever play whack-a-mole? The image here comes from the 1990s, a time of ill-fitting T-shirts and no smartphones, so entertainment came from games such as whack-a-mole that sprung up (literally) to test our hand-eye coordination as well as our ability to deal with a new problem cropping up just as soon as we had...
It was supposed to be a harmless press conference honouring the US Labor Day holiday, but President Donald Trump made a statement about possible chang...
ReadThe US economic recovery from pandemic-induced shutdowns is about as disjointed an endeavour as I can recall. Recent data releases and surveys paint a...
ReadBy John Richardson MONITORING demand has never been harder because of the pandemic. One of my colleagues on the ICIS Pricing team was, for example, la...
ReadThe question came over innocuously enough. “Market prices for ethylene are structurally the highest in Europe and lowest in US with Asia moving in b...
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