ISDC Conference 2011 Report in Chamical Weekly

ISDC 2011

187Chemical Weekly January 17, 2012

materials, equipments, technologies, services and a variety of home and personal care products displayed their offerings in a well-laid out exhibition on two floors at the venue.

The Basic Chemicals, Pharmaceu-ticals and Cosmetics Export Promotion Council (Chemexcil), Ministry of Com-merce, Government of India, also orga-nized a ‘Reverse Buyer Seller Meet’ in which leading exporters participated.

‘Choice of Mumbai appropriate’The event, attended by over 300

delegates from India and abroad, start-ed on 11 December, with the inaugu-ration of the technical sessions and exhibition. The main conference was formally inaugurated the same evening by Chief Guest, Mr. Chandrashekhar Oak, Collector and District Magistrate, Mumbai City District, Government of Maharashtra.

INAUGURAL SESSION

Double digit growth in Indian home & personal care markets set to continue

After two successful conferences in Goa in 2005 and 2008, the 3rd International Conference

and Exhibition on Soaps, Detergents & Cosmetics (ISDC 2011) was held in Mumbai from 11-13 December 2011, at Nehru Centre, Worli. The event was jointly organized by the newly formed, Indian Home & Personal Care Indus-try Association (IHPCIA), and the Oil Technologists Association of India – Western Zone (OTAI-WZ).

‘Dynamics of Changes’ was the theme of the conference in which speakers from various segments of the home and personal care industry high-lighted sustainability initiatives and programmes, as well as the significant growth expected in markets in develop-ing countries.

International exhibitionLeading industry players in raw

In his inaugural address, Mr. Oak pointed to the importance of Mumbai as the financial capital of India and headquarters of several leading Indian and global home & personal care com-panies.

He highlighted the significant growth of the home and personal care products industry, as well as raw mate-rials production, especially in the past few decades, and expected double digit growth during coming years. Mr. Oak also solicited the industry’s support to the government for joint efforts to rea-lize the dream of environment-friendly and sustainable high growth in coming years.

Mr. N.B. Godrej, Chairman, Steer-ing Committee, ISDC 2011, in his inimitable style delivered a poetic ad-dress at the inaugural func-tion!

Dr. B.R. Gaikwad, Conference Chairman; Mr. Sanjay Trivedi, Con-ference Convener; Mr. M.K. Janardan, President, OTAI-WZ; Dr. R.B.N. Prasad, President, OTAI; and Dr. Rajeev Churi, Conference Secretary also presented their views on the event, the current status of the global and Indian home & personal care industry, and its growth potential.

DR. AJIT [email protected]

Dignitaries in the inaugural session

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Chemical Weekly January 17, 2012188

to sustainability can be met by the right inputs of chemistry.

Green chemistry, he added, com-prises of twelve elements, of which three – atom economy, use of cata-lysts and using renewable feedstock for making chemicals – are especially important. A study of the relation-ship between structure and toxicity of chemicals, he pointed out, can lead to design of safer chemicals. “Using mod-ern advances in molecular toxicology, catalysis and renewable raw materials, we can build the foundation for change towards sustainability.”

Prof. Yadav detailed various safer chemicals design strategies such as use of isostearic replacement, substitution of carbon (C) atom by silicon (Si) etc. Many commercial chemical synthesis processes, he added, have been modi-fied to make them ‘green’, by having less number of reactions steps, using re-newable raw materials, use of efficient catalysts etc. As examples, he cited the ‘green’ citral process of BASF; stereo-

selective hydrogenation of p-tert-butyl phenol over Rh/C; synthesis of triclo-san using phase transfer catalyst; syn-thesis of yara yara using modified clays as catalyst; air oxidation of benzyl al-cohol to benzaldehyde; hydrogenation of styrene oxide to obtain kevda-type perfumery chemicals etc.

“Sustainable green chemistry can be used to make platform chemicals like glycerol, which can be converted into many different useful derivatives,” he added.

‘Technology – key to achieving sustainability’

Mr. Steve Stilliard, Vice President, Huntsman Performance Products –APAC, presented sustainability trends in household and personal care pro-ducts, especially with reference to non-ionic surfactants.

In his view, in the current situation of increasing costs and decreasing pri-ces of consumer products, technologi-cal developments based on innovative

chemistry are central to attain sustainability.

Mr. Stilliard also dwelt on sustainability initiatives in organizational management. “Relevant and topical man-agement philosophy, proxi-mity management with deve-lopment of local talent and minimizing logistics footprint are important to attain suc-cess,” he pointed out.

Customer reluctance to payMr. Hans Juergen Scholz,

The first day of the conference had a strong emphasis on sustainability and innovation as key drivers of growth with speakers addressing technical and business approaches to the issue.

Time-bound commitments at Unilever

Mr. Pradeep Banerjee, Executive Director – Supply Chain, Hindustan Unilever Ltd., presented the business case on sustainable growth and the plan followed by Unilever, which has identified 50 time-bound commitments to attain the goal of sustainability for raw materials. The plan aims to double the size of the business, while reducing impact on the environment; halves the environmental imprint of products; and aims to source a significant portion of raw materials from agricultural sources by 2020.

Mr. Banerjee reviewed the environ-mental concerns about increasing palm oil production, especially those related to deforestation of tropical forests, and described various measures, such as the Roundtable on Sustain-able Palm Oil (RSPO), undertaken to make palm oil production sustain-able.

‘Make products safer by design’

Prof. G.D. Yadav, Vice-Chancellor, Insti-tute of Chemical Techno-logy, Mumbai, pointed to the key role of chemicals and chemistry in meeting societal needs, and noted that the many challenges

KEYNOTE ADDRESSES

Sustainability & innovation will drive growth; but economics will reign supreme

Prof. G.D. Yadav being felicitated by Dr. B.R. Gaikwad

ISDC 2011


are mixed together they form double chain surfactants, with different shapes and visco-elastic properties, enabling creation of formulations with tailored properties and performance.

He presented many examples of ‘green’ surfactants like sugar fatty acid esters, seed oil ethoxylates, 2-ethyl-hexanol ethylene oxide-propylene oxide condensates, glycereth-2-cocoate, PEG-4 rapeseed oil amide, glycereth-7-caprylate/caproate, sorbitan esters of various fatty acids etc.

Comparing petroleum-based routes for producing chemicals with bio-routes, he presented the example of sodium lauryl ether sulphate (SLES). Bio-based SLES, where the ethylene oxide is made from ethylene derived from ethanol produced from sugarcane molasses, has a 30% lower carbon in-tensity compared to its petrochemical equivalent.

need for industry to develop security and sustainability of supply with col-laborative partners, and develop infra-structure to support alternative options. “The supply of critical raw materials can be ensured through collaborative partners,” he noted.

According to him, sustainability tar-gets reshape product form and sourcing requirements. “The prepared organiza-tions will succeed and developing stra-tegic partnerships will enhance the flexibility of the organizations,” he added.

Exploiting synergiesDr. B.K. Mishra, India Glycols,

outlined changes in properties that take place when mixtures of ionic and non-ionic surfactants are used.

When mixed together, surfac-tants can undergo either synergistic or antagonistic reactions. For example, when cationic and anionic surfactants

Clariant, pointed out that although con-sumers and various non-government organizations are driving increasing use of renewable materials, consumers are not ready to pay a higher price for such products.

He hoped that with newer and bet-ter technologies the trend towards re-newable bio-based chemicals will gain momentum. The new technologies, many of which are being tested at pilot scale today, can reduce specific energy and water consumption, reduce carbon dioxide footprint and do not compete with food materials. But, he warned, success will only come if they enable to manufacture of products that are com-petitive in cost and performance with petrochemicals-based products and re-quire comparable capital investments.

The flexibility imperativeMr. F. Quinn Stepan, Jr., President

& CEO, Stepan Company, stressed the

MARKETS

Growing disposable income & favourable demo-graphics to drive spends in home & personal care products

The home and personal care indus-tries are reaping the benefits from the country’s demographic dividend. The number of people in the middle class is expected to increase dramatically by 2025. Additionally, the disposable in-come of this middle class is expected to increase substantially. This will be helped further by increasing urbaniza-tion. On the basis of the urbanization rates of 2008, it is estimated that the five states – Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Ma-harashtra, Karnataka and Punjab – are likely to be more than 50% urbanized.

Dominant consumer themes in the personal care industry include:

Emergence of the ‘mastige’ segment (giving benefit of prestige brands at mass market prices);

The slow, but steady, entry of mod-ern retail formats (hyper- and super-markets);

The emergence of the ‘metro-sexual’ man as a potential market (increasing male consciousness to-wards wellness and grooming);

The recognition that while there is one urban India, there are many rural In-dias (urban India merging into homo-geneity, with rural regions demand-ing customized regional marketing).

Personal care outpacing home careMr. U. Shekhar, Managing Direc-

tor, Galaxy Surfactants, estimated the Indian home and personal care pro-ducts industry at about US$8-bn in 2010, and projected it to reach a size of US$11.19-bn in 2014. While personal

ISDC 2011


care products [bath & shower products (including hand & face wash), skin, hair & oral care] constitutes 82% of this market with a value of US$4.90-bn, home care products [fabric care and dish wash products] constituted 18%, valued at US$3.10-bn in 2010.

From a growth perspective, the per-sonal care segment is seeing annual growth of 10-15% – almost double that seen in the home care segment (5-8%).

While the shampoo market in India has grown 20 times in the past 20 years, about 70% of shampoo is still sold in sachets. Similarly, the face wash market is growing – albeit from a very small base – while skin lightening is the abiding theme in skin care products. “Added attributes like moisturisation, sensory feel and young-looking skin are driving premiumisation of skin care products.”

In oral care products, there is an increasing popularity for toothpastes for sensitive teeth, while in fabric care, with increasing use of washing ma-chines, use of compact detergents is growing.

Increasing penetration and growthDynamic growth is seen in every

category and segment of home & per-sonal care products. “There is an in-creasing share of the wallet for better products. There are opportunities to increase market penetration, as well as consumption of various personal care products in the developing markets,” Mr. Shekhar noted.

According to him, products with basic functionality will drive penetra-tion, while new, innovative products with added benefits and multi-functionality will drive growth. For example, a shampoo which satisfies the basic func-tion of cleansing hair will drive mar-ket penetration, while shampoos with

added hair conditioning and repairing benefits will drive growth.

Two distinct marketsProf. Rajan Kamat, University

of Cincinnati, USA, pointed out that emerging markets have two distinct segments – high end or premium mar-kets and mass markets. While the for-mer are characterized by low volume, branded products, the latter have large volumes, but rock-bottom prices. Ac-cording to him, margin enhancement is the crux of business, but is an approach neglected by academics and manage-ment consultants. “Tapping the dor-mant knowledge-base of the company’s workforce will lead to significant mar-gin enhancement,” he noted.

Opportunities & challenges in mar-keting fragrances

Although market positioning, seg-mentation, brand variations & exten-sions and niche products are important in consumer marketing, the culture of the consumer needs to be understood correctly before trying to market a product, such as a fragrance, pointed out Mr. Sitaram Dixit, Oriental Aro-matics.

According to him, there are sig-nificant regional variations in fra-grance preferences even in India. While woody or sandalwood-type fragrances are more popular in south India, floral fragrances are preferred in the north. In western India, in contrast, fruity, floral and modern fragrances are preferred, while in the east floral bouquets are popular. “The liking for a fragrance is so diverse geographically that a mar-keting strategy successful in one region may not work that successfully in an-other region. Consumer lifestyles have to be taken into consideration while marketing a fragrance product,” he ob-served. Globalization of a fragrance, with one fragrance selling well in all regions of the world, is extremely dif-ficult, he added.

While there can be change in con-sumer behaviour, Mr. Dixit believed it is never dramatic, but gradual.

‘Limited ingredient palette’Mr. Dixit also pointed out that no

radically new fragrance has been cre-ated for some time. “Today, new fra-grance products are just modifications of old ones. The ingredients palette, i.e.,

Mr. U. Shekhar speaking at the conference

ISDC 2011


the number of basic fragrance chemi-cals and materials, is declining. The use of natural plant oils (essential oils) for fragrance creation is decreasing. At the same time, hundreds of plants useful for making fragrance materials, are yet to be commercially exploited.”

Dynamics of skin careMr. Jatin Bhatt, Vice President –

Business Development & Marketing, Cavin Kare, pointed out that prior to 2000, there was very low consumer awareness about skin care products in India and only very basic products like cold creams, petroleum jelly and anti- septic creams were available in the market. “Even toilet soap was consi-

dered to be a part of skin care,” he noted. In contrast, in 2011, the skin care products market in India is estimated at about Rs. 3,270-crore and grow-ing at 19% per annum. Of the 2,200 new home and personal care products launched during 2009, 75% were in the make-up, skin care and personal hy-giene categories.

Mr. Bhatt estimated the personal care market in India at US$5.6-bn in 2008, and growing at a CAGR of 11.5%. By 2013, he expected the mar-ket to reach a size of US$9-bn, with growth continuing at an impressive CAGR of 10%. “Increasing popula-tion, disposable income, awareness of personal grooming and modernization of organized retail trade are driving factors for growth in personal care pro-ducts,” he added.

Mr. Bhatt pointed out that the top five industry players have 76% of the total market for skin care products, while others (about 150) account for the balance 24%.

According to Mr. Bhatt, in future, new products will be launched to cater to the needs of rural consumers and to cater to specific consumer demands and age groups. “Rising number of women in full time employment has created a large consumer base with sufficient disposable income and need for beauty products, which will drive growth in personal care products, especially skin care,” he noted.

Mr. Bhatt also expected premium products to gain momentum, with glo-bal products entering the Indian market.

The Black SwansAccording to Mr. Sanjay Sriniwas,

ITC, consumer trends which will impact businesses tomorrow include cosmetic dermatology, use of natural ingredients, concepts of wellness etc.

The Black Swans, i.e., the op-portunities the industry will need to anticipate, include issues related to health & fitness; and growing social and environmental consciousness. “Disruptive innovations like water-less showers and dry bath products may revolutionize the market,” he added.

Table 3Indian home & personal care markets

Sub categories 2010 [US$bn]

CAGR 2010-14 [%]

2014 [US$bn]

Personal care 4.90 – 7.40Bath & shower incl. face wash & hand wash

1.85 10 2.70

Skin care 1.20 15 2.10 Hair care 0.85 10 1.24 Oral care 1.00 8 1.36 Home care 3.10 – 3.79 Fabric care 3.00 5 3.65 Dish wash 0.10 8 0.14 Total 8.00 11.19

Source: Galaxy Surfactants

Table 1Skin care products & market sizes

[2011](Rs. Crore)

Product category Market sizeFace care 2,879Moisturizers 2,332Cleansers 259Face masks 144Anti-ageing 86Toners 58 Body care 392Total 3,272

Source: Cavin Care

Table 2Penetration of select home &

personal care products in India[%]

Category 2010 2015 Toothpaste 52 65 Shampoo 45 52 Skin cream 25 40 Toilet soap 93 95 Detergent bars 90 93 Washing powder 88 92 Dish wash 28 35

Source: Galaxy Surfactants

ISDC 2011


INNOVATIONS

Sustainability, cost reduction & quest for product differentiation driving innovation

Sustainability has emerged as a very clear priority for all home and personal care products companies. This is likely to impact processing, packaging and product design.

Intense competition and the need to stand out amongst a crowd are driv-ing companies to invest significant re-sources in research and development. At times, this is being speeded up by regulatory trends related to product labelling and the need to reformulate to ensure use of safe and ‘green’ ingre-dients.

Raw material suppliers, such as sur-factant producers, also need to respond to cost pressures from their raw material suppliers – be it from the petrochemical value chain or from oleochemicals – at times compromising on margins.

New age of frugalityMr. Norman Ellard, CEO, Rohen

Pte. Ltd., representing IPSpecialities Asia, noted that consumers have turned cautious and price conscious while

buying personal care products in this “new age of frugality.” “The economic recovery of the world will take another four to five years or even ten years. De-mand for home and personal care pro-ducts will continue to grow, most likely at GDP growth rate; but not at the pace we hope,” he warned.

As regards surfactants demand, he admitted that while per capita surfac-tant use in China and India is one-fifth of that in North America and Europe, and the growth potential is very high, several factors will impede this growth. “High prices of natural raw materials (palm oil), as well as petroleum resources will result in expensive sur-factants. This will cause reformulation, which is happening already.”

According to Mr. Ellard, innovation will be key to find the right solutions. “Water availability or scarcity will be another key issue that will impact con-sumer habits, especially in home care, and also affect surfactant formula-tions.”

‘Innovation will lead to new products’

Dr. Farooq Alam, Associate Mar-keting Director, Dow Chemicals, out-lined three trends – sustainability, cost reduction and differentiation of products driven by convenience – as driving innovation and markets in the home-care industry, including the detergents industry.

Important focus areas of companies involved in innovation in fabric care products, according to him, include:

Low temperature cleaning; Improved bleaching systems; Cleaning with less water; Use of bio-sourced and biotechno-logy-based ingredients and builder systems;

Providing sensorial benefits, Colour & textile compatibility; Convenience (e.g., easy ironing), and Use of mono-dose systems.

“Innovations in these areas will lead to improved products, which will be more acceptable to the consumers,” Dr. Alam added.

For the Indian fabric and surface care markets, the focus, he added, is on foam modification, provid-ing skin sensorial benefits, grease cleaning, better rinsing for water conservation and use of multi-pur-pose additives.

Convenience and beyondAccording to Dr. Alam, the needs in

fabric and surface care can be divided into two broad categories: convenience and beyond (including wellness, and environmental & social responsibility). “The increasing disposable income of View of the audience

ISDC 2011


consumers will support the market for convenience and wellness products,” he noted.

In hard surface cleaners, for ex-ample, while basic products offer just cleanliness; convenience products offer cleaning and additional convenience benefits like multi-purpose cleaning; while wellness products offer cleaning, convenience and wellness benefits.

He also pointed to differences in innovation approaches in mature and emerging markets. In hard surface cleaners, for example, while develop-mental efforts for products in mature markets mainly focus on eco-friendly and convenience benefits, in emerging markets the emphasis seems to be on improved detergency, as well as provid-ing anti-bacterial properties.

‘Costs an important factor in choice of raw materials’

Dr. Thomas Greindl, Vice Presi-dent – Global Marketing, Home Care and I&I, BASF, pointed out that the detergents industry is grappling with several challenges, including coping with reduced availability of water and ensuring sustainability of products and processes.

In developed countries, companies are focussed on addressing issues such as use of less water for washing; and ensuring optimal cleaning performance & fat removal at lower cleaning tem-peratures. There is a discernible trend

to super-concentrated formulations, and catalytic cleaning is coming to the fore. In contrast, in developing coun-tries, the challenges include improved soil/fat removal; reducing scrubbing & crushing in hand wash; saving water; and suds control.

Cost and availability, he added, are important criteria in determining choice of raw materials for surfactants – be it of petrochemical or natural origin.

Sustainability: a prerequisite for the future

Dr. Matthias Pfaffernoschke, Busi-ness Head, Akzo Nobel (Europe), noted that sustainability rests on three pillars – environment, society and economy – which are interdependent, but essential elements.

He pointed to several new sustain-able technologies and product plat-forms that have been developed by Akzo Nobel.

For example, the company has in-troduced a new surfactant platform from naturally derived raw materials. One such product is Berol ENV226Plus, which offers cost-effective ‘green’ performance benefits in fabric and heavy duty cleaning, while fulfilling EU Ecolabel criteria for all-purpose and sanitary cleaners.

Lower carbon footprint of ‘hybrid’ platforms

Similarly, the ‘hybrid’ platform offers unique plant-based alternatives to petrochemical-derived chemicals. Hybrid polymers, for example, are 60% based on renewable resources like corn, potato and tapioca starch. Akzo Nobel offers Alcoguard H5240 for use in laundry detergents, while the Aquatreat HP line can be used in scale inhibi-tors for water treatment. Tests on these hybrid polymers have shown perfor-mance similar to that of synthetics for parameters like anti-redeposition, anti-encrustation and detergency.

According to Dr. Pfaffernoschke, the hybrid technology has a potential reduction of about 1-tonne of CO2 equivalent per tonne of hybrid polymer used, as compared to synthetic poly-mers. “The new hybrid polymers can offer the required performance with sustainability,” he concluded.

PRODUCT INNOVATION

‘Understanding fundamental science – key to application development’

Surfactants have a range of appli-cations and are used in formulations where there is a need for mixing hy-drophobic and hydrophilic substrates.

These include paints, cosmetics, phar-maceuticals, nutraceuticals, textile dye-ing, fabric care, floor cleaning, fuel ad-ditives, food additives, pesticides, etc.

“Novel surfactant applications range from nuclear to solar ener-gy, petroleum recovery, as well as emulsion polymerization processes.

Dr. Thomas Greindl

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Understanding the fundamental pro-perties of surfactants is key to dis-cover new applications, as well as discover new materials for required applications,” Prof. Sunil Bhagwat, Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai, noted.

A microemulsion is a single phase system – composed of water, a water-immiscible oil, a surfactant and a co-surfactant – which is optically isotro-pic and thermodynamically stable, but translucent or transparent to visible light.

Nano emulsions appear similar to

toxicity and are biodegradable and environment-friendly. Sophorolipids, a class of biosurfactants, have applica-tions as anticancer, antibacterial, anti-viral, spermicidal & antifungal agents, and also in enhanced oil recovery and detergents.

Gemini surfactants, which are di-meric surfactants with low critical micelle concentrations, have many applications in detergents, cosmetics (shampoos, lotions), textile dyeing, polymerization, paints, corrosion inhi-bition, micellar catalysis and as anti-microbial agents.

EMERGING RAW MATERIALS

MES & MEE touted as replacement for LABS & fatty alcohol ethoxylates

Fatty acid methyl esters on sulpho-nation and ethoxylation yield methyl ester sulphonates (MES) and ethoxy-lates (MEE) that can find use in the home and personal care products indus-try as alternatives to more well esta-blished ones.

But several challenges remain to their wider acceptability, including in-ertia of end-use customers to alter for-mulations without adequate comfort on long-term availability, pricing and per-formance.

Technical challengesAccording to Dr. Corrado Mazzanti,

Sales Director, Desmet Ballestra (Ita-ly), colour inhibition during the multi-step bleaching and ageing of MES is very critical to obtain light-coloured product – a technological skill that has been patented by Desmet Ballestra.

MES can be dried to powder, needles or granules, having different dry matter content and bulk densi-

ties, using a variety of options includ-ing wiped film evaporators and spray dryers. He noted that these powders have a caking tendency and addi-tion of an anti-caking agent or hy-drotrope is necessary. Alternatively, modification in granulometry of the dry MES can help to reduce caking.

Spray drying, he noted, is recommen-ded if the production capacity exceeds 6-tph (tonnes per hour) to obtain light MES powder having high solubility. MES needles can be prepared by using extruders.

Since LABS is the largest con-sumed anionic surfactant in detergents in Asia, replacement of LABS at dif-ferent levels in the existing detergents formulations offers the greatest poten-tial market for MES. According to Dr. Mazzanti, MES can replace LABS in the range of 20-70% in detergent for-mulations in Asia. Unlike LABS, MES performs well in hard water.

‘Green’ MEE – an emerging optionDr. George Smith, Huntsman Cor-

poration, dwelled on the properties and performance of MEE. He pointed out that due to increasing awareness and drive for sustainability, the detergents industry is moving towards ‘green’ sur-factants derived from renewable raw materials.

microemulsions, but require more en-ergy for preparation and are not indefi-nitely stable. Biosurfactants have lower

ISDC 2011


Since biodiesel (a methyl ester) de-rived from palm and other vegetable oils (such as soybean oil) are abun-dantly available today, these have been chosen by Huntsman for direct ethoxy-lation using proprietary calcium-based catalysts. For example, Surfonic ME 530 PS, based on C16-C18 methyl es-ters from palm oil, has been found use-ful in laundry detergents, hard surface

cleaners and personal care products. For liquid laundry detergents, MEE such as Surfonic ME 550 SO, derived from soybean oil, has been found ap-propriate.

Performance characteristics – cloud point, surface absorption, surface ten-sion, critical micelle concentration, in-terfacial tension, wetting times, foam

potential, detergency, etc. – of MEEs and conventional fatty alcohol ethoxy-lates are comparable, according to Dr. Smith. While short chain MEEs exhibit performance similar to alcohol ethoxy-lates, long chain MEEs show lower foam than alcohol ethoxylates. In tex-tile cleaning, he noted, MEEs exhibit comparable detergency to alcohol eth-oxylates.

COMMODITIES OUTLOOK

“No dramatic lows or highs expected for palm oil & crude oil prices”

Mr. G. Chandrashekhar, The Hindu

Business Line, attributed the increased volatility of raw materials used by home and personal care industry to varied factors like rapid demand growth, supply uncertainties, trade & tariff policy changes, geopolitical in-stabilities, currency dynamics and the sovereign debt crisis.

In the short term, he expected “two-speed growth” in global markets – weak and hesitant with high unemployment in the OECD region and strong, yet slowing growth, in emerging markets. “Asia could be the silver lining with high growth.”

Commodity markets, according to Mr. Chandrashekhar, may become an increasingly important factor in setting the limit for growth. “Sup-ply of commodities is struggling to keep pace with rising demand. In-vestments in commodities may see regulatory restrictions in the near future.”

Strong connect between crude oil and vegetable oil

He also saw a strong nexus between crude oil and vegetable oil markets, via biodiesel.

“At present, these markets are torn between worsening sentiment and constructive fundamentals. In the vegetable oil markets, there is expec-tation of tightening demand-supply fundamentals, strong biodiesel de-mand, and prospective slowdown in

palm oil output due to season factors.” Mr. Chandrashekhar expected conti-nued volatility in palm oil, but, he felt, prices may not rise much as in the past. “No dramatic lows or highs are ex-pected for palm oil, as well as crude oil prices.”

Documents

ISDC Conference 2011 Report in Chamical Weekly