Friday, December 29, 2017

Chemical and Metal Shortage Alert – December 2017

The purpose of this blog is to identify chemical and metal shortages reported on the Internet.  The sources of the information reported here are primarily news releases issued on the Internet.  The issue period of the news releases is December 2017.

Section I below lists those chemicals and metals that were on the previous month’s Chemical and Metal Shortage Alert list and continue to have news releases indicating they are in short supply. Click here to read the November 2017 Chemical and Metal Shortage Alert list.

Section II lists the new chemicals and metals (not on the November alert).  Also provided is some explanation for the shortage and geographical information.  This blog attempts to list only actual shortage situations – those shortages that are being experienced during the period covered by the news releases.  Chemicals and metals identified in news releases as only being in danger of being in short supply status are not listed.

Section I. 

None
      
Section II.   Shortages Reported in December not found on the Previous Month’s List

Benzene: United States; production not keeping up with demand
Natural gas: China; supply not keeping up with demand
Saline solution: United States; production not keeping up with demand
Sand: India; supply not keeping up with demand
Silicon: United States; production not keeping up with demand
Vitamin A and E: Canada; production not keeping up with demand

Reasons for Section II shortages can be broadly categorized as: 

1.  Mining not keeping up with demand: none
2.  Production not keeping up with demand:  benzene; saline solution; silicon; vitamin A
                                                                        and E
3.  Government regulations: none
4.  Sources no longer available: none
5.  Insufficient imports: none
6.  Supply not keeping up with demand: natural gas; sand



Wednesday, December 6, 2017

Chemical Industry Support of the Fish Farming Industry

The fish farming industry (also represented by the term aquaculture industry) now provides more than 50% of global fish consumption (compared to caught/captured fish).  This percentage has greatly increased in the last 30 years and is expected to continue to increase.  In recent years, fish have accounted for around 20 percentage of total global human consumption of animal protein.  As the aquaculture industry continues to innovate and expand its production, it is likely this 20 percentage will increase.  In fact, with an increasing global population expected to reach 9 billion by 2050, the increase is paramount.  Click here for a good overview of such data from the United Nations (PDF file).

The chemical industry has been a major supplier to the aquaculture industry.  Materials supplied have included:  amino acids; antioxidants; carotenoid pigments; enzymes; proteins; stabilizing agents: trace elements; and vitamins.    Public, chemically-related companies marketing materials to the aquaculture industry include:  Ajinomoto; Archer Daniels Midland; BASF; Darling Ingredients; DSM; and Navozymes.

Two large, public companies that farm fish with large fish retail businesses are the Thai company Charoen Pokphand (click here to go to its website; click the Thai language link to get to the English site) and the Norwegian company Marine Harvest (click here to go to its website).  In 2016, Charoen Pokphand sold for approximately $1.9 billion its farmed fish.  This sale amount represented a 6% increase over 2015.  For Marine Harvest, farmed fish revenues in 2016 was approximately $3.7 billion and in 2015, $3.3 billion, a 12 % increase.   According to data found on the Internet, farmed-fish consumption growth globally is expected to increase about 8% per year.


The growth of the aquaculture industry over the last 30 years seems to me to be a good example of how a “new industrial sector” can benefit the chemical industry.

Friday, December 1, 2017

Chemical and Metal Shortage Alert – November 2017

The purpose of this blog is to identify chemical and metal shortages reported on the Internet.  The sources of the information reported here are primarily news releases issued on the Internet.  The issue period of the news releases is November 2017.

Section I below lists those chemicals and metals that were on the previous month’s Chemical and Metal Shortage Alert list and continue to have news releases indicating they are in short supply.  Click here to read the October 2017 Chemical and Metal Shortage Alert list.

Section II lists the new chemicals and metals (not on the October alert).  Also provided is some explanation for the shortage and geographical information.  This blog attempts to list only actual shortage situations – those shortages that are being experienced during the period covered by the news releases.  Chemicals and metals identified in news releases as only being in danger of being in short supply status are not listed.

Section I. 

None
      
Section II.   Shortages Reported in November not found on the Previous Month’s List

Ethane:   Mexico; production not keeping up with demand
Hydrogen peroxide:  Texas; production not keeping up with demand
Polysilicon:  China; production not keeping up with demand

Reasons for Section II shortages can be broadly categorized as: 

1.  Mining not keeping up with demand: none
2.  Production not keeping up with demand:  ethane; hydrogen peroxide; polysilicon
3.  Government regulations: none
4.  Sources no longer available: none
5.  Insufficient imports: none

6.  Supply not keeping up with demand:  none