By John Richardson THE extent of the weakness in China ‘s polyolefins market has become more apparent as a result of reports that a much-anticipated increase in Middle East production hasn’t happened. Back in February, oil production in Saudi Arabia had been raised to 8.9m barrels a day from around 8.5m barrels in January, a […]
Asian Chemical Connections
Was NPRA Off The Mark On China?
By John Richardson I HAVE been speaking to my colleagues who attended this week’s NPRA conference in San Antonio, Texas, and it didn’t appear from discussions during the event that a potential slowdown in China was high on anyone’s radar screen. In fact, for many of the delegates it didn’t seem to be blinking on […]
Polyolefin Producers Maintain Their Control
Source of picture: Dallhouse University, Canada By John Richardson THE incredibly smart way in which polyolefin producers have managed production since the great collapse of September 2008 continues to defy what appear to remain some very uncertain, and some cases weak, macro-economic fundamentals. As we discussed on Wednesday, China faces a significant demand-growth gap […]
Gaping Chasm Between Effective, Real Op Rates
By John Richardson A gaping chasm has opened up over the past 18 months between nameplate capacities and effective operating rates, resulting in much greater focus on the latter. It isn’t easy and it is getting ever-more complicated to assess the actual volumes likely to hit markets. There is a considerably well-supported school of thought […]
December Polyolefin Price Rises Flounder
“I am so happy to be supporting polyethylene film pricing”…. Source of picture: Canada-China Agriculture and Food Development Exchange By John Richardson IT looks as if attempts by polyolefin producers to raise prices for December deliveries have, as we predicted last week, been largely unsuccessful. Some grades of polypropylene (PP) edged up by $10-20/tonne […]
The Threat From a Resurgent China Vinyls Industry
The price of coal….. Source of picture: www.guardian.co.uk By John Richardson A big shake-up in China’s chlor-alkali to carbide-based polyvinyl chloride (PVC) industry is underway which could have major implications for the global industry, we have been told by industry observers. In a clear demonstration that it is better to be lucky as well […]
The Strange Story of China Rate Cuts & Emissions
By John Richardson A rumour emerged a few weeks ago that Sinopec would be required by the government to cut its operating rates in order to either or both help China achieve its 11th Five-Year Plan emissions targets and/or increase diesel production. China is attempting to hit the targets under the plan before the next […]
Polyethylene And The Stories People Tell
…..quite possibly, yes, but it matters not what you say, only how you tell it Source of picture: freelancefolder.com By John Richardson THIS poor mug might well have been the victim of rumours designed to move the daily price of polyethylene (PE) in China late last week. The author of this […]
Distorting The Outlook For 2011
Source of picture: http://www.intentblog.com By John Richardson and Malini Hariharan THE view from a particular geography, grade of polyolefin or end-use application might be distorting the outlook for 2011. In China and India and other emerging markets demand growth continues to astound and even though the rates of expansion might have slowed down […]
Polyethylene Price Recovery Built On House Of Cards
Source of picture: keplarllp.com By John Richardson It always seemed as if the Asian polyethylene (PE) price rebound was built on a house of cards. The Chinese economy is slowing down, the country’s domestic production has greatly increased and new capacity in the Middle East – though still plagued by start-up and operating […]
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