In Depth: How Ethylene Glycol Led to the Yongcheng Coal Default
In Depth: How Ethylene Glycol Led to the Yongcheng Coal Default A worker holds a bottle of ethylene glycol made in a factory in Guizhou. The surprise default that threw China’s corporate bond market into turmoil last month can be traced to massive, unprofitable investments a decade ago in ethylene glycol, a toxic but useful industrial chemical that Chinese factories consume in vast quantities. The business case seemed sound in 2010 for the state-owned coal mining operations of central China’s Henan province to diversify into the product, which can use coal as a raw material. But the leade...
Source: caixinglobal.com