By China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation
 
China’s petroleum and chemical industry developed soundly in the first ten months. Profits kept rising rapidly, while production costs declined. Stability in supply and demand was maintained. The economic growth structure was improved continually, and risk resistance capacity was strengthened. However, some problems still existed, like weak investment, sluggish growth in market demand for major chemicals, etc.
   The domestic petroleum and chemical industry posted main business revenue of RMB10.73 trillion in the first ten months, up 15% YoY, 0.2 percentage points greater than the January-September growth. By sectors classified by the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation, main business revenue in the chemical sector was up 10% YoY to RMB6.41 trillion, and that for the refining sector reached RMB3.29 trillion, up 24.3% YoY. The petroleum and natural gas exploration and production sector achieved RMB812.94 billion in main business revenue, up 22.9% YoY.
   Among segments under the chemical sector, main business revenue grew faster in the coal chemicals segment, the synthetic materials segment and the basic chemical raw materials manufacturing segment, up 24.8% YoY, 14.6% YoY and 13.3% YoY, respectively. In addition, the main business revenue was up 9.2% YoY in the specialty chemicals segment, and up 6.7% YoY in the coatings (pigment) segment. The chemical pesticide segment saw a growth of 10% YoY in main business revenue, followed by the fertilizer segment (4.7%) and the rubber product segment (1.2%).
   Combined output of crude oil and natural gas reached 274 million tons in the first ten months, up 1.6% YoY, and that of major chemicals was up around 2.6% YoY. In October, crude oil output was up 0.3% YoY to 16.09 million tons, natural gas output was up 7.5% YoY to 13.42 billion cubic meters, and LNG output was up 3.3% YoY to 912 000 tons. China processed 52.78 million tons (up 4.6% YoY) of crude oil in the same month, and produced 31.27 million tons of oil products (gasoline, kerosene and diesel), down 0.8% YoY.
   Ethylene output was up 1% YoY to 1.61 million tons in October, methanol output was up 11% YoY to 4.14 million tons, coating output was up 4.9% YoY to 1.51 million tons, and chemical regent output was up 13.4% YoY to 1.57 million tons. As for others, sulfuric acid output was up 4.7% YoY to 7.45 million tons, caustic soda output was up 6.4% YoY to 2.9 million tons, and calcium carbide output was up 14.7% YoY to 2.35 million tons. Output of synthetic resin was up 5.3% YoY to 7.35 million tons, that of synthetic fiber monomer was up 5.4% YoY to 4.06 million tons, and that of cover tyres was down 1.1% YoY to 72.81 million pcs.