By Malini Hariharan (Malini is now joint blogger for Asian Chemical Connections) The Indian government has announced 17 November as the date for a public hearing to discuss the provisional anti dumping duties that it had imposed in June on imports of polypropylene (PP) from Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Oman. The hearing will give a […]
Asian Chemical Connections
Challenges for chemicals trading in Q4
The views of two Singapore-based chemicals traders explain some of the fundamental shifts in production, logistics and demand since the economic crisis began. “I have done reasonable business this year and made quite good returns, but volumes are way down,” said the first of these two traders, who deals in toluene and mixed xylenes (MX). “Cracker-based […]
How do Asian cracker operators compete?
Source of Picture: www.autospies.com Not an easy answer and not one much suited to a few paragraphs of blogging. But here’s one thought as the competitive environment becomes a great deal more difficult due to new Middle East capacity and the potential for China to move towards self-sufficiency in polyethylene and polypropylene: Have a chat […]
Don’t You Wish You Could Be Yourself?
Picture: The Daily Mail Ok, I lied – I am having trouble getting back into my petrochemicals bubble and so this post is not about polypropylene. Apologies to all those disappointed C3 H6 molecules out there. I was sharing lunch with a highly demotivated Singapore-based chemicals industry employee recently and the great British 1970s sitcom, […]
Micro-management gone too far?
micro-management, human resources, APIC, commodity chemicals, CEOs, credit control, financial meltdown
If manufacturers started buying up their suppliers….
This excellent article from The Economist about vertical integration got me thinking that if, say, auto makers start buying up parts suppliers in developed markets (in developing markets the plastics processing industry is too fragmented) we could end up facing a whole new set of industry dynamics. Buying up your supplier, or at least offering […]
Trade protectionism on the rise
antidumping petitions, trade protection, WTO applied and bound tariff rates
As this is the season of goodwill…..
debt forgiveness, rescheduling mortgages, Nail Ferguson, Financial Times, global property slump
Obama’s impact on Asian petchems
The new energy New Deal, death of the Asian export model, new types of growth, bankers,
Uncle Karl is back in fashion
Karl Marx, The Miner’s Strike, Margaret Thatcher, Thatcherism, capitalism, financial meltdown
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