Sabic's Al-Mady still bullish on plastic

Mohamed Al-Mady, CEO of Saudi Basic Industries Corp. of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the world's largest chemical company, gave a live interview to CNBC's Erin Burnett yesterday. The interview covers Al-Mady's thoughts on the global recession, plus a few comments about the plastics sector. Asked whether there's any hope for a recovery soon, Al-Mady says: "We are beginning to see some glimpse of hope. I think the light at the end of the tunnel is visible right now because of depleted inventory and because of the things we have done in our industry ... reducing capacity worldwide." He adds that Sabic has seen good signs of recovery in China and the United States, although he couches that a bit, noting that "everything is relative." Sabic has seen some improvement in prices, but he adds that it remains to be seen whether increases will stick, he said. Although Al-Mady was recently quoted elsewhere saying Sabic had badly timed its purchase of GE Plastics (paying $11.6 billion in 2007), he continues to emphasize that the company is taking a positive long-term view of the business. "We are bullish on plastic for the future. Plastic will always be with us," Al-Mady said.