The soda ash market narrative reminds one of Dickens' A tale of two cities: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times [...]we had everything before us, we had nothing before us."

From the vertiginous highs of the post-pandemic boom to the slumbers brought in by high borrowing costs, soda ash players are navigating rougher seas with lows elongated compared to typical cyclical troughs and highs that had exhausted anyone involved in selling the molecule for over two years. Likewise, the promises of a boom in consumption via the lithium carbonate to support lithium ion battery-run electric vehicles is also tempered by the idea that global oversupply could through the molecule back into the depressed mode and low margin era it has known for decades.

Demand from the from the all-important flat glass applications servicing the construction and auto industries have stabilised after a year-long slow decline and is likely to remain slower in H2.

Regionalism is at all time highs. And Supply from China is once again in the line of mire.

ICIS soda ash editors Anne-Sophie Briant-Vaghela from Europe, Helen Lee from Asia, and Bill Bowen from the US talk about the changing market conditions as China switches from net exporter to net importer in Q1-Q2.

Chemical distributors are seeing signs of a sequential improvement in demand, but increasing geopolitical volatility threatens any recovery, according to the head of trade group Fecc.

- Sequential improvement in demand, destocking winds down

- Red Sea disruption highlights continuing fragility of supply chains

- Geopolitics creates growing instability and volatility

- Europe chemicals need political support

- Permitting needs to speed up to enable low carbon energy transfer

- South Korea chemicals under intense pressure to consolidate

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In this Think Tank podcast, Will Beacham interviews Dorothee Arns, Director General of Fecc (European Association of Chemical Distributors), ICIS Senior Consultant Asia John Richardson and Paul Hodges, chairman of New Normal Consulting.

SINGAPORE (ICIS) -- Recycled polymers markets in Asia faced different market dynamics, driven by various factors like additional capacities, inflationary pressures and support from downstream demand.

• Asia R-PET trade to gain support from new extrusion capacities within Asia and long-haul markets
• Asia R-PE to continue to perform poorly in H2 in line with cheaper virgin PE prices and inflationary pressure which impacts finished goods demand
• Uptake from the automotive sector lends support to Asia R-PP, with trade expected to be moderate until end of the year

In this podcast, Asia recycling editor Arianne Perez discusses trends in the market as well as what lies ahead.