By Malini Hariharan If you are trying to find an explanation for the recent price movement in Asian polyolefin markets, a report in today’s Wall Street Journal offers some clues. China, says the report, has been eating into some of its reserves resulting in a decline in prices of commodities such as refined copper, iron […]
Asian Chemical Connections
Unravelling China’s polyolefin numbers
By Malini Hariharan There is some good and not so good news from China. Import and production numbers for January to April are now available and they tell an interesting story. The good news is that Chinese demand, measured in terms of imports (data from China customs) and local production (data from CBI China), has […]
Price slide intensifies
By Malini Hariharan The weakness in Asian markets is spreading with steep drops also being reported in olefin prices. Ethylene prices dropped by $160-170/tonnes last week while propylene declined $90-110/tonne, writes my colleague Soo Hwee, ICIS pricing editor for olefins. The poor market conditions were attributed to softness in crude oil and naphtha prices as […]
Chinaplas: Optimism, consolidation, new plant start-ups and more
By Malini Hariharan Chinaplas has just concluded and my colleagues have filed some great reports from Shanghai. Worries about a margin squeeze in the second half of the year persist but polymer producers seem to be increasingly confident about long-term growth prospects. The chairman of the China Plastics Processing Industry Association (CPPIA) talked of the […]
Will crude oil revive PE markets?
By Malini Hariharan Has the steady increase in crude oil prices last week prompted Chinese buyers to resume purchases? That is what a Shanghai-based distributor of Middle East product is hoping. And it is the only explanation that he can find for concluding a sale of nearly 10,000 tonnes of polyethylene (PE) yesterday. After weeks […]
Formosa awaits approval for big expansions in China
By Malini Hariharan In a research note released today, UBS has highlighted plans by Formosa Chemical and Fibres (FCFC) for major expansions at Ningbo, China. The Taiwanese petrochemicals major is in the process of getting Chinese government approval for a new 1.5m tonnes/year PTA plant, a 200,000 tonnes/year PS unit and a 150,000 tonnes/year ABS […]
Dealing With The Middle East Logistics Challenge
Singapore’s container port Source of picture: www.gcaptain.com By Malini Hariharan and John Richardson A big challenge facing many companies that have built large polymer plants that are located far from key markets is how to move product most efficiently. These facilities have been built to take advantage of competitive feedstocks in regions such as […]
Polymer trading – a great investment opportunity?
By Malini Hariharan I recently met a businessman at a dinner party. After exchanging the usual greetings he eagerly disclosed his plans for a new business venture – trading in polymers. “There will be three of us in this business; we plan to import polymers in bulk from Taiwan and China; each consignment will not […]
Optimism as China returns
By Malini Hariharan The China market appears to have started the year of the tiger on a strong note. We are not yet hearing a roar but at least it is not a whimper. Pic source: Xinhua A polyolefin market participant says that traders have started making enquiries after the Lunar New Year holidays. End-users […]
Douple-dip Appears To Have Begun
By John Richardson The start of the next dip in what this blog has long thought would be a double-dip economic crisis looks as if it could have begun. If not now, it’s going to happen at some point because of major global imbalances. What’s worrying right now is the combination of: *Potentially weaker demand […]
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