PODCAST: Fear of shortages may fuel inventory building; expect H2 destocking

Will Beacham

03-Aug-2021

BARCELONA (ICIS)–Chemical markets may be artificially buoyed by inventory building along stretched supply chains, but poor downstream demand could lead to rapid destocking in the second half of 2021.

  • Supply chain disruption is regionalising supply chains
  • This causes fly up in prices, shortages of material
  • Inventory building may mask poor real downstream demand
  • Record second quarter (Q2) results may not be sustainable
  • Less than 40% of ships arrived in the US on time in Q1
  • China’s economy was already slowing before latest floods
  • Asia may see second year of negative petrochemical demand growth
  • More lockdowns due to low vaccination rates in Asia, natural disasters
  • Record Q2 financial results driven by upstream, especially PE
  • Purchasing Manager Indices show recovery slowing in all regions

In this ICIS Think Tank podcast, Will Beacham interviews Nigel Davis, ICIS Insight Editor, John Richardson, ICIS Senior Consultant Asia, and Paul Hodges, chairman of New Normal Consulting.

Click here to listen to the podcast

Editor’s note: This podcast is an opinion piece. The views expressed are those of the presenter and interviewees, and do not necessarily represent those of ICIS.

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