By John Richardson CHINA’S immediate credit scare appeared to ease somewhat yesterday when the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) said that it would supply liquidity to support banks that have a healthy balance sheet and lend to promising projects if they see a temporary liquidity shortage. But room for interpretation was left open, as […]
Asian Chemical Connections
China To Take A Big Stick To Financial Crisis
By John Richardson CHINA is facing a financial crisis that could put US sub-prime into the shade. “Between 2007 and 2012, the ratio of credit to GDP climbed to more than 190%, an increase of 60 percentage points,” said US funds manager, GMO, in a report. “China’s recent expansion of credit relative to GDP is […]
China’s New Credit Clampdown
By John Richardson BEIJING is clearly getting worried that its politically motivated 2012 economic stimulus programme has damaged the economy. “Just when the world had bought into a Chinese economic recovery, along comes the government throwing proverbial spanners in the works,” writes James Gruber, former fund manager and journalist in his latest Asia Confidential weekly […]
Pricing To Struggle For The Rest of 2012
By John Richardson Further confirmation of the themes we raised yesterday emerged from an interview with a senior polyolefin industry source, with some important new analysis. Profitability in Asia is the worst of any of the three regions, he told us, although volumes remain good. In the US, he characterised demand as “pretty reasonable”, but […]
The Murkiest Of Outlooks
By John Richardson LACK OF visibility over what the New Year will bring for the global chemicals industry is a key feature of just about every conversation held with industry executives at the moment. Perfect forecasting is, of course, always impossible, but with the Eurozone in deep crisis and even China potentially facing its own bad-debt crisis, […]
Asian Aromatics Crawl Towards Post-Chinese New Year
A roar or a whimper? Source of picture: http://break4fun.zarke.net By John Richardson THE ASIAN aromatics market has had “both its legs chopped off below the knees, and has also had its proverbial hands broken,” said an Asian-based petrochemicals consultant today. “As a result, we are crawling in a great deal of pain towards what […]
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