With the fast progression of China's economy in recent years, there is an increasing demand for ethylene and downstream products. China's ethylene industry is in the period of golden development at the moment. China's output of ethylene has increased rapidly in recent years; the production capacity was near to 10 million tons in 2006, and the output rose to 9.41 million tons (ranking the 2nd worldwide).

In 2006, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Beijing, Shangdong, Jilin and Guangdong were the regions with the largest output of ethylene. The output in Shanghai, Jiangsu and Beijing arrived at 1.9382 million tons, 1.4017 million tons and 0.9908 million tons respectively, ranking the top three. The outputs took a respective share of 22.11%, 15.99% and 11.30%.