Chemical industry is the abbreviation of "chemical technology", "chemical industry" and "chemical engineering". Any technology that uses chemical methods to change the composition, structure of substances or synthesize new substances belongs to chemical production technology, that is, chemical process. The products obtained are called chemicals or chemical products. Initially, handicraft workshops were used to produce this kind of products, but later they evolved into factories and gradually formed a specific production industry, namely chemical industry. Chemical engineering is a science to study the common law of chemical product production process. The relationship between mankind and chemical industry is very close. Some chemical products play an epoch-making role in the history of human development. Their production and application even represent a certain historical stage of human civilization.

In order to survive and develop, human beings constantly struggle with nature and gradually deepen their understanding of the surrounding world, thus mastering the ability to conquer nature and transform the world. After a long historical practice, human beings are more and more good at utilizing natural conditions and creating a rich material world for themselves.

Ancient people's lives depended more on direct use or extracting what they needed from it. Because the inherent properties of these substances can not meet people's needs, a variety of processing technologies have been developed to transform natural substances into new substances with various properties, and gradually put into practice on the scale of industrial production. Initially, handicraft workshops were used to produce such products, but later they became factories and gradually formed a specific production sector, namely, the chemical industry. With the development of productive forces, some production sectors, such as metallurgy, oil refining, paper making and leather making, have been separated from the chemical industry as independent production sectors. With the vigorous development of large-scale petroleum refining industry and petrochemical industry, chemical engineering, which is a discipline to solve many engineering and technical problems in large-scale enlargement and enlargement, has been further improved by studying the common law of chemical production process on the basis of chemistry, physics and mathematics and combining with other engineering technologies. It raises the production of chemical industry to a new level and enters a new stage of theory and prediction from an empirical or semi-empirical state (see the history of chemical engineering development). It enables chemical industry to add a lot of material wealth to mankind and accelerate the process of human social development with its creative ability of larger-scale production.

In modern Chinese, chemical industry, chemical engineering and chemical technology are abbreviated as chemical industry. They appear in different historical periods and have different meanings, but they are closely related and permeate each other. In people's minds, the term "chemical industry" has traditionally become a synonym for a general knowledge category and cause. Its significance in national economy and engineering technology has aroused widespread interest, attracted thousands of people and devoted their lives to it. Following is a brief description of the colorful content of chemical industry and its important contribution from all aspects of human social life.

According to the data, from January to April 2013, China's crude oil processing capacity was 158.683 million tons, an increase of 3.2%, ethylene production was 5.298 million tons, an increase of 3.0%, synthetic resin production was 18.518 million tons, an increase of 9.8%, synthetic fiber monomer production was 7.368 million tons, an increase of 14%, and synthetic rubber production was 1.321 million tons, the same as the previous year. The increase was 7.4%. Ethylene production reversed negative growth, but the growth rate was very low, and the three major syntheses also grew at a low rate.

The profitability of the main sub-sectors of petrochemical industry has basically rebounded slightly. Among them, the main business income of organic chemical raw material manufacturing industry reached 43.2218 billion yuan, an increase of 15.2% over the previous year, and the total profit reached 11.100 billion yuan, an increase of 2.3% over the previous year; the main business income of synthetic resin manufacturing industry reached 24.27 billion yuan, an increase of 13.5% over the previous year, and the total profit reached 8.031 billion yuan, an increase of 11.9% over the previous year; The main business income of the industry reached 38.833 billion yuan, an increase of 24.9% year on year, and the total profit reached 2.170 billion yuan, an increase of 17.2% year on year. The main business income of synthetic fiber monomer (aggregation) manufacturing industry reached 94.06 billion yuan, a decrease of 4.4% year on year, and the total profit reached 620 million yuan.

From the point of view of the main sub-industries, synthetic fiber monomer (polymerization) manufacturing industry suffered losses due to factors such as the dramatic decline in cotton prices. Profit levels of the two largest sub-industries, organic chemical raw material manufacturing and synthetic resin manufacturing, have also rebounded weakly, which largely reflects the cold economic fundamentals.

From the perspective of 2013, although crude oil prices remain stable at around $100 per barrel (Brent), which is beneficial to the whole petrochemical industry chain, the downward trend of demand side caused by the sustained weakening of the real economy will impact the whole industry. The growth rate of fixed assets investment will decline, the rate of start-up will decline, the economic activity of the industry will decline, and the decline cycle of chemical industry will become long and the bottom can not be clear.