China global trends

This paper has attempted to identify the key determinants and larger global trends, as well as indigenous factors which will affect the development of the Chinese chemicals industiy and opportunities for European players. As the Chinese chemicals industry gains importance it will increasingly affect global trends as well. The development of China s chemicals industiy will be mainly driven by China s drive for self-sufficiency, as well as the importance of geographical proximity, which requires the European chemicals industiy to locate close to their customers. 

Up to now, the main producers of lithium-ion batteries are distributed in South Korea, Japan, and China, and production in China numerically accounts for about 30% of world production. From the development of the Chinese battery industry, the global trend can be deduced, since China became the world s largest trading coimtry in 2013. From Figure 16.1, it can be seen that over the last 4 years, there has been a steady rise in production of about 20%/year. 

Global production of roundwood was 3335 million in 1999 (3352 million m in 2000), about 50 % of which was as fuel wood, of which 90 % was consumed in developing countries. Industrial roundwood production (1550 million m in 1999) was dominated by developed countries (79 % of total annual production). This trend will change, in particular with the emergence of China as a major economic force. 

Globalization in the modem era has led to worldwide outsourcing. Two chapters were dedicated to the changes in the pharmaceutical industry in terms of outsourcing. In Chapter 28, Lu and Shinkai (Beta Chem, Japan), formerly from Merck, discuss the trends. Robins and Hannon (Davos), in Chapter 29, outline the importance of sourcing pharmaceutical products to China and India. 

A look at the use of different reactor types demonstrates the dominant role of the LWR line in commercial electricity production. From 428 nuclear power plants operating worldwide in 1996 to produce 363 GW(e) or 17 % of the international electricity supply -plus 62 units under construction to produce 55 more GW(e) - 342 plants are LWRs, 249 PWRs and 93 BWRs, for a total of 311 GW(e) [27]. And the trend to larger power units was observed. Not more than 5 GW(th) of global nuclear power are presently employed to supply hot water and steam, mostly in Canada, China, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine [25]. 

First of all, we need to clarify some definitions. With the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union and the opening up of China, there is a clear need now to look at developments in the lead and zinc industries in global terms i.e., including every country in the world. However, in looking at historic development trends, one encounters the problem of consistency and accuracy of reporting in the former communist countries, particularly the Soviet Union, as well as continuing problems in the collection and collation of data in some of these countries and in China. For this reason, we continue to make the distinction between the transitional economies, which we define as China, North Korea, Vietnam, Cuba, the Former Soviet Union (FSU) and the Warsaw Pact countries of Eastern Europe, and the Western World which comprises all other countries. Much of the subsequent discussion refers solely to the Western World but, where possible, we also quote global numbers and/or numbers for the transitional economies. 

More and more people from less-developed countries are adopting the lifestyle of the United States. Because of this trend, the problems associated with global warming are expected to be dramatically exacerbated. Right now the United States is first worldwide in per capita carbon dioxide emissions, and China is eleventh. However, China is second in total emissions, and the United States is first. What will the world be like if China, India, or another highly populated country forges to the lead to become the largest source of... 

World production is almost equally split between Europe/North America and Asia-Pacific where production is dominated by China and Japan [8]. As mentioned earlier two large companies, Omya and Imerys, with worldwide operations are the major producers accounting for a significant proportion of the global supply. A number of other medium sized suppliers have operations in more than one country. Over the years there has been a considerable consolidation of both producers and consumers of GCC and this trend is expected to continue. 

With the reduced armed conflict in Afghanistan and Iraq, and a reduction in budget for traditional military active governments, global defence spending has declined. The impact of this downward trend is partly attenuated by an increase in defence spending in other countries such as the Middle East, India, China, Russia, South Korea and Brazil. Nevertheless a downward trend can be observed of global revenues for defense companies, which declined 1.3 % in 2012 and 1.9 % in 2011 (Fig. 20.2) [4]. 

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