Sunday Thematic & Weekly Recap

China: The Biggest Unknown, The Biggest Hope and Largest Threat
August 6, 2023
Commodities Mentioned:
Plastics, PVC, Polyethylene, Polypropylene, PU, PC, PET, Critical Minerals, Carbon Dioxide, Hydrogen, Natural Gas/NGLs, Crude/Naphtha, CCS, Ammonia, Methanol, Renewable Power, Hydropower, Solar, Wind, Nuclear, Batteries, Polyolefins, Metals, Methane
Companies Mentioned:
LSB Industries, Nutrien, CF Industries, LyondellBasell, Westlake, Olin, Shin-Etsu, Formosa, Orbia, Oxy, BASF, Albemarle, Livent, Ganfeng Lithium, Freeport-McMoRan, Glencore, Umicore, Huntsman, Covestro, Alpek, Shell, Asahi Kasei, Borouge, Eureka Resources, Lithium Americas, Indian Oil, McDermott, KH Neochem, Balchem, OMV, Rio Tinto, OCI, Ohka Kogyo, Rare Element Resources, BP, OCI Global, TC Energy, Sabic, Origin Materials, Enerkem, Technip, Ineos, Ecolab, Enterprise Products, Adnoc, Siemens Gamesa, Phillips 66, Dow, Chevron Phillips Chemical, ExxonMobil, Invista, PPG, Braskem, Heartland Polymers, Formosa Plastics, Eastman, Marathon Petroleum, Borealis, Bunge, Axalta, Sumitomo Chemical, DuPont, Sinopec, Mosaic, Pilbara Minerals, Piedmont Lithium, Wacker, Symrise, Pioneer Natural Resources, Devon Energy, Magnolia Oil & Gas, CenterPoint Energy, Loop Energy, Honeywell, Petronas, Pemex, Altius Renewable Royalties, Tigo Energy, Yara International, Corteva, FMC, Bayer, Allkem, Ingevity, Evonik, Ecovyst, ConocoPhillips, Quaker Chemical, Mitsubishi Chemical, Cargill, The Andersons, Superior Drilling Products, Energy Recovery, Arakawa Chemical, Kellogg, Veolia, Cummins, Lenzing, Littelfuse, Myers Industries, Denbury, Talos, Aker Carbon Capture, Gulf Coast Sequestration, Linde, Air Products, Yara, Bloom Energy, Chart Industries, Navigator, Summit Carbon Solutions, Republic Services, Gevo, First Solar, AdvanSix, AkzoNobel, Pembina Pipeline, Energy Transfer, Chesapeake, EnLink Midstream, Intrepid Potash, Trinseo, Mitsui Chemicals, Williams, The AZEK Company, Solvay, Baker Hughes, TotalEnergies, Technip Energies, Azmut, Air Liquide, Enbridge

C-MACC Sunday Thematic & Weekly Recap 180

China: The Biggest Unknown, The Biggest Hope and Largest Threat

  • Those signaling a bottom in many chemical markets as they report 2Q earnings are making an implicit bet on China, regardless of whether they have real insight.
  • The slowdown in China, which has caught all by surprise, is impacting China from a margin perspective, but possibly less so on volume – everyone else is feeling that.
  • Expectations of a better 2024 suggest a huge turnaround in Chinese demand growth or massive rationalization, which history shows will not happen that fast.
  • Pockets of strength exist where the overbuild has not happened – coatings and industrial gases, but even here further economic weakness would not help.
  • Many are talking about better 2Q numbers especially outside the US and current price momentum but are not commenting on the rapid July rise in crude oil prices.

C-MACC is coordinating and moderating a hydrogen expert panel discussion at the World Chemical Forum in Houston from September 12-14

We invite you to register for the event and visit our hydrogen expert panel session titled “The Role of Hydrogen in Decarbonizing Chemicals” on September 14th at 3:00 pm. Please contact Graham Copley to learn more and receive a discount code.

Note that this is the old CMAI conference as was the heart of the successor IHS conference – so filled with relevant presentations on the global chemical industry. Also, note that C-MACC will be following this presentation with a client and friends of C-MACC cocktails and dinner – details to be announced.

Last week we discussed 26 Chemicals and Related Products and 132 Companies.

See PDF below for all charts, tables and diagrams


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