BEIJING, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- China's petrochemical industry registered steady revenue growth last year thanks to robust production in basic chemicals and synthetic materials.
Producers with main business revenues over 20 million yuan (nearly 3 million U.S. dollars) raked in a total of 12.4 trillion yuan in 2018, up 13.6 percent from a year ago, the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation said Tuesday in a report.
Basic chemicals contributed 35 percent to the revenue growth, the biggest, followed by 30.9 percent for synthetic materials and 18.6 percent for specialty chemicals.
Emerging sectors posted rapid growth. The output of bio-based material production surged 211.9 percent, and biomass fuel increased 37.6 percent.
The petrochemical industry also reported a profit margin of 6.77 percent, the best since 2012, and a debt-to-asset ratio falling to 54.56 percent. "The supply-side structural reform in the sector made solid progress," the report said.