As we move into only the second week of March, many of our New Year's resolutions — both professional and personal — already have been shattered into tiny pieces.
Thankfully on the plastics and petrochemicals side of things, John Richardson, a market analyst with data firm ICIS, recently posted three things for market players to do during the rest of 2025.
Richardson's first to-do item is to monitor supply adjustments. "Keep up to date on plant shutdowns, project delays and cancellations," he wrote in a market note. "How quickly supply adjusts is key, as demand will be subdued. This will help you capitalize on any sudden regional tightening in markets."
Second on Richardson's list is to stay ahead on trade protectionism. "Be proactive in forecasting and reacting to new antidumping and other trade protectionist measures," he wrote. "Build a trade data analysis and strategy team if you don't have one already."
Richardson added that there was "a significant increase" in antidumping investigations into Chinese chemicals and polymers in 2024. "As China grapples with weak domestic growth and adds more capacity, this trend may continue," he said.
Last, but not least, Richardson recommends that materials market players integrate artificial intelligence into their work
processes. He wrote that doing so can reduce costs by saving time on basic tasks.
"The next phase involves using the technology to improve the accuracy and flexibility of forecasting in response to increasingly complex market conditions," he wrote.
Richardson admits that taking these three steps is complicated, but he adds "this is the nature of a post-chemicals supercycle world. We need better and better data and analysis to profit from this complexity."