BEIJING, March 4 (Xinhua) -- China's petrochemical industry is predicted to gradually rebound and see stable development in 2020, with necessity to carry on supply-side reforms amid external challenges, according to the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation (CPCIF) on Tuesday.
Statistics show that the sector's operating income totaled 12.27 trillion yuan, up 1.3 percent year on year, while the profit decreased 14.9 percent to 668.37 billion yuan. The profit declined mainly in fertilizers, basic chemicals and oil refining areas, according to Fu Xiangsheng, vice president of CPCIF.
CPCIF predicts that the total petrochemical industry revenue for 2020 will increase five percent year on year, with the revenue of chemical industry surging seven percent, and the profit will increase eight percent.
In 2020, the apparent consumption of crude oil and natural gas are predicted to increase by 5.5 percent and seven percent year on year, respectively, and that of refined oil products to grow about three percent. The apparent consumption of chemical fertilizers will be at the same level of or slightly lower than the previous year.
Fu mentioned that the industry should pay high attention to the problem of overcapacity, especially for PX, ethylene and polyethylene products, of which the production capacity has increased significantly in recent years, and is expected to reach saturation globally in future.
Facing that, approvals of new and expanded oil refining projects and new PX and ethylene projects will be strictly controlled starting from this year, except for national key bases and projects planned, said Fu. He also mentioned that CPCIF will complete by the end of this year a guideline for the industry development during the 2021-2025 period. (Edited by Li Wenxin, liwenxin@xinhua.org)
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