By John Richardson CHINA’S autos market is not behaving in the way that it did in 2008-2013, when, as the chart above further illustrates, demand growth was nothing short of staggering. In Q1 of this year, sales growth moderated to 10% – and we think it will go much lower. This 10% compares with […]
Asian Chemical Connections
China’s Urbanisation Myth Bites The Dust
By John Richardson THE blog would again be in the position of being able to afford a yacht in Monte Carlo if it had a dollar, even in an Australian dollar these days, for every time it has heard the phrase “urbanisation will underpin long-term growth in China”. But just as some of the other […]
China Jobs Versus The Cost Curve
By John Richardson ACHIEVING approval for any new petrochemicals projects in China is going to be a lot harder in the future, is a a growing view across the chemicals industry. A senior executive with a US-based polyolefins producer, for example, told the blog recently: “It looks as if Chinese chemicals companies are finding it […]
The Future For China Auto Sales
By John Richardson The distance from end-use markets didn’t matter for chemicals and polymers producers during the 2008-2013 credit surge in China because, as we said yesterday, demand was so good that few people were willing to ask too many awkward questions. But now the questions need to be asked. One of the questions we […]
China Pollution: The Years Of Living Differently
By John Richardson “THE mountains are high and the emperor is far away,” is a well-known phrase in China, which has been applied to many areas of legal enforcement. “The refinery in, say, Shanxi province might have installed a de-sulphurisation unit, or at least something that looked like such a unit,” an “old China hand”, […]
India: Less “Payback” For Pollution
By John Richardson IF you are convinced of the accuracy of Indian government air-quality readings, then air pollution in Delhi is nowhere near as bad as that in Beijing – despite a New York Times report to the contrary. Government measurements, published in response to the NYT article, show that the concentration of harmful particulates […]
Jokes Don’t Keep You Healthy
By John Richardson “I FEEL like I’m living in clouds of smog,” Zheng Qiaoyun, a Shanghai resident who kept her 6-month-old son at home told the UK’s Guardian newspaper. “I have a headache, I’m coughing, and it’s hard to breathe on my way to my office.” The reason was another pollution scare in China, this […]
China’s November Plenum: The Verdict So Far
By John Richardson THE November Plenum is over and now the analysis has begun. Some commentators view the formal communiqué about the plenum – which was released by the government on Tuesday – with tremendous enthusiasm. Others, however, are disappointed, while a third group of commentators are sitting on the fence. This might not seem […]
Bio-based Local Ethylene Plants A Good Alternative
By John Richardson THE proven approach for success in petrochemicals is, of course, to find cheap feedstocks somewhere and build a world-scale cracker complex. That “somewhere” doesn’t necessarily have to be close to the final customers in emerging markets. For example, the Middle East and more more recently the US can afford to ship large […]
China’s Debt Crisis Comes To A Head
By John Richardson HOW much longer will China’s central government continue to kick the can down the road? The answer to this question might well turn out to be the biggest single determinant of chemicals and polymers demand growth over the next few years. When the great rebalancing really kicks in, the wind could be […]
Jump to page: