The failure, and quite possibly the death, of the Doha round of trade negotiations earlier this week could create a very confusing and erratic regulatory landscape for the chemicals industry. This excellent entry in the New Scientist environment blog by Fred Pearce, senior environment correspondent, makes the point that if the world cannot agree on […]
Asian Chemical Connections
It’s a whole new ball game
First of all, apologies to readers for my complete neglect of this blog over the last six weeks. I can only plead overwork and being too stunned by the collapse of the global economy to think about the blogosphere. I promise regular posts from now on, provided I am not once again dazzled by the […]
Will Dow ever crack India?
The two big gaps in the US major’s Asian presence (and gaping gaps they indeed are) are cracker complexes in India and China. China could be fixed through the alliance with PIC – meaning, Dow has leverage to get a license to build a naphtha cracker complex by offering crude supply through its new jv. […]
Can India compete with China?
India is already being held back in mass manufacturing by restrictive labour practices and poor infrastructure – meaning the answer to the above question is already a resounding no in some sectors. The rise of the rupee is also a concern, as this article from The Economist highlights . The problem for India is because […]
Asia needs a recesssion
Asian industry leaders are playing lip service to the environmental crisis the world confronts . George Monbiot, the excellent author and journalist, argues that what the West needs is a recession to give the planet a breather.Asia also needs a substantial economic slowdown to give policymakers and technology developers more time.
Asian biofuels face a big crisis
After all the optimism, all the hype and a lot of investors’ money, the industry has shot itself in the foot by failing to build demand ahead of supply. Plus the negativity caused by food versus fuel and environmental counter-arguments to supporting this current generation of technologies is making some Asian governments hesitate on providing […]
A load of bull or rational exuberance?
I was in India this week as the Times of India carried a front page cartoon of a bull dressed in a Superman outfit with an ‘S’ on his shirt to mark the Sensex surging past 20,000. All the talk was of the index taking 20 years to reach its first 10,000 with the second […]
Another great year for Asian polyolefins but……
……how long will it last is the inevitable question. Demand growth has been so strong so far this year with very little new production coming onstream that while crude oil and the price of monomers have set a floor for pricing, they no longer appear to be the main drivers behind fluctuations and increases; in […]
Lots of froth makes one giant global bubble
Alan Greenspan refused to categorise conditions in the US housing market as a bubble when he was chairman of the Fed. But now he’s retired and while plugging his memoirs, he admitted in a TV interview the other day that lots of froth in different parts of the US made up what was, in reality, […]
The global credit crisis is going to last
The collective sigh of relief was almost audible late last week when the Fed cut its discount rate – the rate banks charge each other for lending. Action from other central banks, including the European Central Bank, could follow this week. Analysts also rate the likelihood of the Fed cutting its formal interest rate at […]
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