By John Richardson We don’t have the actual data yet (hopefully, we’ll be able to give you the numbers later this week), but…… ……China’s commodity chemicals and polymer imports “continued to amaze” in September with monoethylene glycol (MEG) shipments hitting an all-time high, said Jean Sudol, president of US-based International Trader Publications Inc (ITP). “Imports […]
Asian Chemical Connections
Western Polymers: Get Out Or Get Cleverer?
MOVING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION (SORRY, OUCH….!) Source of Picture: www.autospies.com The automobile industry in the West has been bought more time by economic stimulus, as this article in The Economist points out. But some of the discussions at the Frankfurt International Motor Show, which takes place on 15-27 September, will be about the future […]
Benzene heads south – as predicted
Back from less-than-sunny Perth to discover that the prediction from my good friend and colleague Paul Hodges at International eChem has come true: Benzene has headed south because of: 1.) The rise in its pricing seems to have been out-of-kilter with what has happening downstream in styrene 2.) Traders credit might well have stampeded for […]
The insidious rise of the Internet….
“Bob, I think I we should give this up as I can’t get a wireless connection and I couldn’t be bothered to talk to anyone.” Source of Picture: Faculty.SMU.Edu . ……and the effect on the quality of data and analysis is one of my big concerns – particularly at a time like this when petrochemical […]
How to make money in a downturn Part 1
John Cusack, Kate Beckinsale, antidumping petitions, trade protection, living in cloud cuckoo land
If I had a dollar for every time………
…….I had heard a company saying it was moving up the value chain (or rather a Euro or a British pound these days), I wouldn’t be writing this blog entry while smelling the wonderful aroma of pork sausages being cooked for my tea. Brown sauce and mash as well, of course. Can Dow Chemical make […]
Here we go again – 1997 is back…..
I sincerely hope not, but all the signs are there because of: *A financial crisis which nobody again saw coming, this time with global implications *What could prove to be too much spending on new equipment and capacity. This time high equity prices have paid for these investments rather than US dollar-denominated bank loans, as […]
More talk of credit tightening in China
Call me a bitter old cynic, but some of the talk in this ICIS news article about a government lending crackdown might be from a few traders taking positions. But still, it does seem as if the government is taking some measures to restrict loan growth. Earlier, it appeared unclear as to whether the restrictions […]
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.
Can polymers rescue the Mile High Club?
Maybe Singapore airlines has got the wrong end of the stick by trying to ban first class passengers in their new cabins in the sky from indulging in a little hanky panky. Perhaps the answer is to equip the walls of these private cabins with super sound-absorbing polymers (polyurethanes, maybe?). Any suggestions from polymer experts […]
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