Intro

European and Asian oxo-alcohols and plasticizers market participants expect demand will be underwhelming in H2, heightening concerns about margins and capacity utilisation.

-          Macroeconomic pressures persist and key construction industry struggling

-          Globally poor demand and expensive freight impact trade flows 

-          Demand not able to support healthy operating rates, margins

-          Scepticism if stimulus policies, lower interest rates will have significant impact in 2024 

In this podcast, Europe market editor Nicole Simpson speaks to Asia editor Julia Tan about the outlook for the rest of 2024.