Backward Thinking: Will You Need The Feedstock To Compete?

Daily Chemical Reaction

Backward Thinking: Will You Need The Feedstock To Compete?

Key Points:

• Commodity chemical producers lacking feedstock integration face difficult choices as the energy sector expands downstream, pressuring non-integrated chemical returns.
• The North American petrochemical producer cost advantage is significant relative to overseas peers, and so is the case for its energy producers serving the global markets.
• We discuss US polyethylene contract price trends relative to US, NW Europe, and Asia spot market levels and January contract nominations facing considerable headwinds.
• We discuss IEA research discussing patent developments across the hydrogen value chain from 2011-2020 and 2021-22 occurrences pushing growth capital into this area.
• The decline in freight rates for ocean shipments, which have mostly returned to pre-COVID levels, and falling product price hike views suggest falling supply concerns.

See PDF below for all charts, tables and diagrams