Recently, the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation released the economic performance report for August. The report shows that the economic operation of the whole industry has slowed down and stabilized. The production of oil and gas and major chemicals across the country has grown steadily, investment in the industry has maintained rapid growth, consumption has maintained a rebounding trend, benefits have fluctuated at the bottom, and the business environment of enterprises has continued to improve. However, the downward pressure on the economic operation of the industry is still increasing, the market is weak and the shock is intensified, the cost is operating at a high level, the export is declining, and the external economic environment is still relatively unstable.

Judging from the completion of major economic indicators, from January to August, the added value of the petroleum and chemical industries increased by 4.1% year-on-year; the operating income was 7.98 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 1.2%.

Specifically, the production of oil and gas and major chemicals maintained steady growth. From January to August, the national total output of crude oil and natural gas was 230 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 4.5%, a decrease of 0.2 percentage points from January to July; the total output of major chemicals increased by about 4.8%, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point.

Oil and gas consumption maintained rapid growth, and consumption of major chemicals grew steadily. From January to August, the total apparent consumption of crude oil and natural gas in my country was 635 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 8.1%; the growth rate of the total apparent consumption of major chemicals declined.

Investment in the chemical industry maintained rapid growth. From January to August, the investment in fixed assets of chemical raw materials and chemical products manufacturing increased by 7.9% year-on-year, continuing to lead the national average level of industrial investment.

The decline in export trade expanded significantly. From January to August, the total import and export volume of the whole industry was 478.45 billion US dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 0.8%, and the cumulative growth rate decreased for the first time since 2017. Among them, the total import and export volume in August was 59.03 billion US dollars, down 9.4% year-on-year, and the decline was 7.5 percentage points higher than the previous month.

Benefit bottom shock. From January to August, the total profit of the whole industry was 466.99 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 19.1%. Among them, the profit growth of the oil and natural gas extraction industry has slowed down; the efficiency of the oil refining industry has continued to decline sharply; the benefit of the chemical industry has fluctuated at the bottom.