China’s Petrochemical Sector Cuts Output as Costs Climb

Chinese petrochemical makers have started idling capacity as the cost of their feedstocks rises amid the Middle East war, Bloomberg has reported, noting that output is down to the lowest in three years. About a fifth of the country’s petrochemicals capacity has been taken offline, the publication wrote today, citing data from a Chinese industrial news outlet. The report added that the petrochemicals industry is currently operating at just 68% of capacity. The futures prices of purified terephthalic acid, a chemical that is used in the production…