Daily Chemical Reaction
Night-Night – High Inventory, Demand Concerns, & Logistic Issues Put More Sector Production To Bed
Key Points:
- Global demand concerns, lingering logistic issues, and elevated inventory levels are spurring US chemical production cuts despite its shrinking but still notable low-cost global position.
- Brent Crude and Ex-US naphtha values reflect multi-year lows relative to US natural gas and NGLs – the trend highlights an erosion of the US petrochemical production cost advantage.
- We highlight the Olin announcement to close more Chlor-alkali capacity and discuss why we view it as good news for US Chlor-Vinyl producers, such as Westlake, Shintech, and OxyChem.
- We discuss the hydrogen alliance between Canada and Germany, flag more global green hydrogen developments and likely global trade routes, and note a few ammonia market trends.
- Evidence of slowing global demand is broadly mounting as end-product sellers increasingly cut sales and profit outlooks amid high inventory, lessening activity, and shifting consumer habits.
See PDF below for all charts, tables and diagrams