China's Coal-to-Chemicals Producer Posts Record Profits Amid Crude Oil Price Surge

China's largest coal-to-chemicals producer, Ningxia Baofeng Energy Group Co., reported record first-half profits of $1.4 billion as international crude oil prices soared.

The company attributed the surge to rapidly rising and highly volatile crude oil prices, which significantly increased feedstock costs for oil-based olefins, while domestic coal prices rose moderately and feedstock costs for coal-to-olefins production increased only slightly.

China's coal-to-chemicals industry received a major boost from the Middle East war, with sector stocks jumping 30% between late February and mid-March as investors rewarded the industry's ability to produce fertilizers and other petrochemicals from coal without using petroleum.