OREANDA-NEWS. July 29, 2011. The petrochemical industry in China saw its total output value jump 34.4% year on year to RMB 4.71 trillion in the first six months of this year, according to figures released by the National Development and Reform Commission.

The growth rate was 0.5 percentage points higher than in the same period of 2010.

The NDRC said that the output value in oil refining sector surged 31% to RMB 1.51 trillion during the period from January to June.

The output value of the chemical industry increased 36% year on year to RMB 3.07 trillion during the period, and the growth rate was 2.7 percentage points higher than that in the whole of 2010.

The petrochemical industry saw its value-added output grow about 13.3% in the first five months, slowing from a 13.7% growth in 2010.

The industry processed 222.96 million metric tons of crude oil during the period, up 7.1% year on year. The output of oil products increased 7.4% year on year to 131.56 million metric tons, and that of ethylene jumped 17.2% year on year to 7.81 million metric tons.

The export and import value of the petrochemical industry amounted to USD 158.1 billion in the first five months, 27.5% more than in the same period of last year. Export value rose 32.6% year on year to USD 65.1 billion and import value increased 24.3% year on year to USD 93 billion.

In the first five months, the petrochemical industry realized RMB 173.8 billion in profits, 27.5% more than in the corresponding period of last year. The profit of the chemical sector surged 55.8% year on year to RMB 156.2 billion, while that of the tyre industry increased only 3.7% year on year, due to a sharp increase in rubber prices.

The oil refining sector saw profit sector plunge 58.7% year on year to RMB 13.4 billion in the first five months due to rising crude oil price.