Blogs
Restocking Price Recoveries Will Be Deceptive (Asian Chemical Connections)
By John Richardson WE will see, as we did in the second half of last year, chemical price recoveries on restocking as inventories are at very-low levels down many of the value chains. It will only take slight improvements in...
PX - PTA market struggle intensifies (Asian Chemical Connections)
By Malini Hariharan Asian paraxylene (PX) and purified terephthalic acid (PTA) markets have started 2012 on a contentious note that is likely to be repeated for the rest of the year. The January Asian Contract Price (ACP) for PX is...
China's producers lose pricing power (Chemicals & The Economy)
China's economy is slowing rather fast. That's the only conclusion to be drawn from the above chart. It shows a major collapse in producer price inflation (PPI), from July's 7.5% peak to just 2.7% in November. The decline from September's...
A quick recovery for butadiene (Asian Chemical Connections)
By Malini Hariharan Asian butadiene prices are once again on their way up, rising over 20% in the last two weeks. Prices last week were at $1,900/tonne cfr Northeast Asia, up from a low of $1,500-1,600/tonne cfr Northeast Asia in...
Expect Some China Chemicals Price Recovery.... (Asian Chemical Connections)
....but let's wait for the details to makea firm judgement, following Wen Jiabao's comments about more help for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with the government also indicating an interest-rate cut by Q2 next year. How will any financial easing...
PTA And PX Keep Sliding (Asian Chemical Connections)
By Malini Hariharan Asian spot prices for polyester raw materials continued to fall last week as concern on lack of buying support from the China market where concerns about the health of the global economy dampened sentiment. Purified terephthalic...
China Property Prices Down 30-50 Per Cent (Asian Chemical Connections)
By John Richardson A BIG reduction in real estate prices is now underway in China, creating the potential for more property/chemicals traders to go bust. The China Daily reports that home prices in suburban areas of Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen...
Restocking lifts polyolefins prices (Asian Chemical Connections)
By Malini Hariharan Polyolefins prices in the key China markets inched up last week thanks to an uptick in buying activity. Prices of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) blow moulding and film grades moved up $20/tonne while linear-low density PE prices were...
Speculation Drives China Methanol (Asian Chemical Connections)
By Malini Hariharan Methanol continues to be an exception to the general weakness seen in Asian petrochemical markets. Spot prices have crossed $410/tonne in the important China market and could remain firm for the rest of the year. Prices have...
MEG bucks the trend (Asian Chemical Connections)
By Malini Hariharan There are some exceptions to the generally weak petrochemical markets seen in Asia these days and monoethylene glycol (MEG) is one such product. Spot prices have hit a 44-month high of $1,275-1,280/tonne CFR China and are expected...
