China's petrochemical output up in 2012

China's petrochemical industry saw steady growth in total output in 2012, but profits dropped from a year earlier due to weak demand, the country's top economic planner said Saturday. The total output of the petrochemical industry rose 12.9 percent year on year to 10.86 trillion yuan (1.73 trillion U.S. dollars) last year, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said in a statement The industry's production growth rate experienced month-on-month drops in the first half of 2012 due to flagging consumer demand in China and the rest of world, the statement said. In the latter half, the growth began a steady rebound on the back of the government's pro-growth policies, the statement said. The petrochemical industry's total profits dropped 9.4 percent to 324.9 billion yuan in the first 11 months, according to the NDRC. It forecast a 10-percent profit drop for the sector for the whole year. To buoy the slowing economy, the government rolled out an array of measures last year, including cuts in benchmark interest rates, the easing of commercial banks' reserve requirement ratio and the approval of massive infrastructure projects. China's economy grew by 7.8 percent year on year in 2012, the slowest growth rate since 1999, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. Meanwhile, the growth rate quickened to 7.9 percent in the fourth quarter, ending a seven-quarter slowdown.