According to the latest statistical data from the China Chemical Industry Economic and Technological Development Center, from January to July 2010, China's oil and chemical industry realized a total import and export volume of 257.8 billion U.S. dollars, a year-on-year increase of 53.5%. Among them, import trade totaled 183.6 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 59% year-on-year; total export trade was 74.17 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 41.5% year-on-year.

Chang Yuzhi, a research fellow in the chemical industry of China Investment Advisors, pointed out that since the reform and opening up, China's petroleum and chemical industries have developed more rapidly, and import and export trade has also been very active. At present, the export structure of China's petrochemical products has gradually shifted from a single resource-intensive type to a resource-intensive, labor-intensive, and technology-intensive integrated export product structure. However, while the petroleum and chemical industries in China are developing rapidly, the deficit in import and export trade has also existed.

According to the "2010-2015 China Petrochemical Industry Investment Analysis and Prospect Forecast Report" released by the China Investment Advisor, the import and export trade deficit of China's petroleum and chemical industries was US$163.54 billion in 2008, an increase of 40.7% year-on-year. In 2009, The trade deficit is 129.055 billion U.S. dollars. In the first half of 2010, the import and export trade deficit of China's petroleum and chemical industries was USD 96.994 billion, an increase of 97.3% year-on-year.

Chang Yongzhi believes that in recent years, China's foreign dependence on crude oil has been increasing year by year, and imports have been rising. This is the main reason for the deficit in China's oil and chemical industry's import and export trade. At the same time, due to the unreasonable structure of China's petrochemical products, China's current chemical products are mainly exported with products with low technological content and low added value, while high-value products with high added value require large amounts of imports. One of the reasons for the import and export trade deficit in China's oil and chemical industry.

Chang Yuzhi also believes that the overcapacity situation of most of China's petrochemical products is serious, and the situation of supply oversupply in the market is obvious. The price war among various companies will also lead to the import and export trade deficit in China's petroleum and chemical industries. In addition, since China’s accession to the WTO, the tariffs have been declining year by year and the trade frictions China has suffered in recent years are increasing. It will also affect the import and export of petrochemical products in China to a certain extent, resulting in a deficit in import and export trade.

Zhang Yanlin, research director of China Investment Consulting Co., Ltd. pointed out that the chemical industry has always been one of the industries with a large deficit in import and export trade, and it has shown an ever-increasing trend. Therefore, China needs to increase the international competitiveness of petrochemical products and reduce the trade deficit. At present, China must not only restrict the disorderly expansion of the petrochemical industry, reduce the export of resource-based products and primary chemical products, but also vigorously develop deep-processing chemical products and improve the quality and technological content of China's chemical exports. Moreover, domestic companies must also establish an upstream and downstream integrated business structure and implement a global strategy to improve their international competitiveness. In addition, we must pay attention to pre-registration to avoid the impact of REACH regulations on China's import and export trade.