In 2023, the economic operation of the industry will rebound from a low level with steady progress
What achievements did China's petroleum and chemical industry deliver in the just passed year of 2023? What is the economic performance trend of the industry this year? What new situations will we face again? At the 2023 China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Economic Operation Press Conference held on February 1st, these questions were answered as the industry's economic performance rebounded from a low level and made steady progress, demonstrating strong resilience and providing solid guarantees for national energy security and economic and social development. Although the situation and challenges have become more complex, 2024 will overall be a year of stabilization.
According to a report released by Fan Min, Deputy Director of the Information and Marketing Department of the Petrochemical Federation, in 2023, the industrial added value of enterprises above designated size in the entire industry increased by 8.4% compared to the previous year, which is 3.8 percentage points higher than the national industrial value during the same period; Accumulated operating revenue of 15.95 trillion yuan, a decrease of 1.1% from the previous year; The total profit reached 873.36 billion yuan, a decrease of 20.7% from the previous year; The total import and export volume was 952.27 billion US dollars, a decrease of 9.0% from the previous year.
From the perspective of business data, the operating revenue, total profit, and total import and export volume of the petrochemical industry have all experienced varying degrees of decline. Although they are not as high as the first two years of the 14th Five Year Plan, dialectically speaking, they are still five years higher than those of the 13th Five Year Plan. Such results are not easy! "Fu Xiangsheng, Vice President of the Petrochemical Federation, further analyzed in the keynote report that the operating performance in 2023 is not ideal, mainly due to the significant decrease in prices of crude oil, natural gas, and the vast majority of chemical products. The price decline leads to an increase in production and apparent consumption, resulting in a decrease in efficiency, an increase in import and export volume, and a decrease in import and export volume.
It is worth acknowledging that the industry has made new contributions in ensuring national energy security, ensuring stable supply and prices of agricultural materials, "Fu Xiangsheng pointed out.
It is reported that in 2023, China's crude oil production will reach 209 million tons, an increase of 2% over the previous year. This is a new leap achieved after returning to the 200 million ton platform after a six-year gap in 2022; The natural gas production reached a new high of 229.71 billion cubic meters, achieving a remarkable feat of over 10 billion cubic meters in continuous growth for seven years; The total output of fertilizers (converted to pure) increased by 5% compared to the previous year, exceeding the domestic apparent consumption by 3.6 million tons; The production of pesticide raw materials (converted to pure) increased by 2.8% compared to the previous year, and the position of the world's largest pesticide producer has become more stable.
While achieving success in the petrochemical industry in 2023, we also need to recognize that there is still a gap from the 'primary task' of high-quality development. For example, there is still room for improvement in efficiency, severe overcapacity, the bottleneck of resource constraints has once again become prominent, and modern coal chemical industry has encountered new bottlenecks. All of these need to be solved one by one through continuous innovation, "Fu Xiangsheng emphasized.
Regarding the economic operation trend in 2024, Fu Xiangsheng made the following assessment: "Although the situation and challenges are becoming more complex, overall it will be a year of stabilization. In 2024, the industry will face new situations such as sustained slowdown in world economic growth, increasing uncertainty factors, accelerated energy transformation, and accelerated green and low-carbon transformation process
To this end, Fu Xiangsheng pointed out that in 2024, the high-quality operation of the petrochemical industry should accurately grasp the "twelve character" policy of seeking progress while maintaining stability, promoting stability through progress, and establishing first and then breaking through. Efforts should be made to "transform the mode, adjust the structure, improve quality, and increase efficiency", take the initiative and strive for progress, and focus on doing five tasks well, namely, new ideas for the "advancement" of new industrialization, new breakthroughs in innovation driven "advancement", new achievements in the "advancement" of green and low-carbon transformation, new measures to resolve overcapacity, new vitality in "specialization, refinement, novelty" and "advancement", and make every effort to achieve a new leap in the "advancement" of the entire industry while maintaining stability.
