According to data recently released on the website of the National Development and Reform Commission, in August the value added of the chemical industry increased by 6% year on year, a deceleration of 4.4 percentage points compared with the same period last year. Among major chemical products, ethylene output fell by 8.1% year on year, while output of primary-form plastics, synthetic rubber, and synthetic fibers rose by 0.9%, 12.8%, and 3.1%, respectively; caustic soda output increased by 7.2%, whereas soda ash output declined by 0.2%; fertilizer output dropped by 13.7%, with nitrogen fertilizer and phosphate fertilizer falling by 14.9% and 14%, respectively, while potash fertilizer output rose by 3%; pesticide output decreased by 3.6%; tire casings output increased by 10.2%; and calcium carbide output grew by 2.4%.
From January to August, the chemical industry’s value added increased by 8.7% year on year, a deceleration of 0.8 percentage points compared with the same period last year. Among major products, ethylene output reached 12.05 million tonnes, up 5.5%; primary-form plastics output totaled 53.5 million tonnes, up 7.4%; synthetic rubber output was 3.52 million tonnes, up 7.2%; and synthetic fiber output stood at 30.12 million tonnes, up 8%. Caustic soda output amounted to 21.42 million tonnes, up 6%; soda ash output reached 16.84 million tonnes, up 0.5%. Fertilizer output totaled 49.28 million tonnes, down 0.3%, with nitrogen fertilizer and potash fertilizer output increasing by 0.9% and 5.4%, respectively, while phosphate fertilizer output declined by 3.9%. Pesticide output reached 2.49 million tonnes, up 2%. Tire casings output totaled 620.01 million units, up 9.5%. Calcium carbide output reached 16.82 million tonnes, up 2.9%.
Among the key chemical products under monitoring, prices for most increased compared with the previous month. In August, the average price of caustic soda (solid caustic soda) was RMB 2,250 per tonne, up 5.1% from both the previous month and the same period last year; soda ash averaged RMB 1,490 per tonne, up 2.1% from the previous month and 2.8% year on year. Urea was priced at RMB 1,200 per tonne, down 4% from the previous month and 28.6% year on year; domestically produced diammonium phosphate averaged RMB 2,700 per tonne, up 3.8% from the previous month but down 6.3% year on year. Calcium carbide was RMB 2,330 per tonne, up 9.4% from the previous month but down 0.9% year on year.
