Chemical Insights Blog

Sign Up Today

Polyester

A line graph showing the price gap between paraxylene bought and sold in the United States compared to West Europe and Asia.

5 min read

Paraxylene Price Points: Forecasting from Firm Foundations

In today’s money, the first comprehensive world market paraxylene survey ever published would set a buyer back US$33,000. In fact, it was the...

A chart showing the price of paraxylene. It demonstrates the price gap between Asian-origin product (the gold baseline) versus (red) European and (blue) US product.

7 min read

Western PET Sector Profit Loss 2023: How Much and For How Long?

PET industry participants in Europe and North America are locked in a fight for survival. What can the PET sector do to improve its outlook for 2024?...

Three new cars with their headlamps shining in a row.

6 min read

Is the US Automotive Sector Strike Impacting Chemicals Supply Chains?

The automotive sector is operating in a contradictory landscape at present. This year alone, it has been subject to pent-up demand driven by Covid,...

The Tecnon OrbiChem team enjoys some downtime at the 57th EPCA Annual Meeting in Vienna in 2023.

6 min read

Key Takeaways From a Premier Petrochemicals Event: EPCA Vienna 2023

Tecnon OrbiChem experts connected (and reconnected) with cohorts of petrochemicals-focused contacts cultivated over 50 years at the end of last...

A South Korean flag waves in the wind in the background of China's ensign.

3 min read

Chemicals Sector South Korea: Adapt or Dwindle Approach

South Korean petrochemical firms are adapting their business portfolios to combat oversupplied markets amidst a bearish demand for products.

Graph showing PTA exports from China to India.

3 min read

India Halts Imports for Key Intermediate Chemical from China

Plastics, packaging, textiles and automotive manufacturers in India are currently prohibited from sourcing purified terephthalic acid from mainland...

A schematic representation of bio-aromatics production incorporating images of food waste, straw, chemical figure drawings and paint pots

4 min read

Biobased Phthalic Anhydride: Can this Key Feedstock be Green?

Phthalic anhydride is a key chemical intermediate in applications from phthalate plasticisers to polyesters. Many types of polyesters can be made via...

Image shows Ukraine, Russia Belarus and some surrounding countries

7 min read

Chemical industry: Russia–Ukraine war impact analysis July 2022

Russian-origin raw material for unsaturated polyester resin (UPR) production is entering Turkey before sale to European buyers as end product....

Image shows a SWOT analysis of raising inventory versus lowering inventories in volatile economic and political times

4 min read

New Chemical Industry Imperatives: Expanding Inventory & Making Supply Chains Robust

Factories need to keep inventory, to guard against delayed delivery of vital feedstocks or components. This is especially the case for chemical...

5 min read

Sustainability Boost from Promising Profit: Concept to Reality Bio-PET

The largest PET producers reported extraordinary results in 2021 and Q1 2022. Along with improved profitability, all the companies provide extended...

Graph showing the Global PET and raw materials market in 2022.

2 min read

Profitability in 2022: West Welcomes Sharp Improvement

There is exceptional profitability for products in the polyester chain in Europe and the US today. Heightened local prices and good profits are...

Mock-up of chem focus reports over the years.

2 min read

500-Issue Milestone: Monitoring Polyester and Polyamides for Over 40 Years

It doesn't stretch back to the 1939 unveiling of ladies’ stockings at the World's Fair in New York, nor to the time when Mancunian chemists spun out...