The chemistry industry in Ningbo started in 1957, with a development of more than 40 years, it become the one of the three backbone enterprises in the city. Which mainly include the petroleum chemistry, basic chemical material, farm chemicals, organic chemical compound, paint and dyestuff, plastic and rubber products and chemical machinery.

At present, a batch of new high-tech products take an important position in the domestic market, such as lead-free gasoline, low-sulphur diesel oil, aviation kerosene, pitch coal, aromatics, propylene, EPS, ABS, sulphuric acid, caustic soda, liquid chlorine, hydrochloric acid, synthetic ammonia, urea, dyestuff and painting are all the important chemical products in Ningbo Chemical Industry Zone.

By the end of 2000, there were more than 200 chemical enterprises, with capital over 13 billion RMB Yuan. The amount of crude oil processed was over 10,000,000 tons. There are 6 enterprises for basic chemical material production, whose main products are sulphuric acid, caustic soda, hydrochloric acid, liquid chlorine, nitric acid, o-methylbenzene; fine chemistry has a certain foundation for paint, dyestuff, assistant, medicine compound, dye compound, etc. There are 10 enterprises for paint production, the shipping paint is in a leading position in China; There are 3 enterprises for dyestuff producing, include two major categories-weak acid and reactive dye; there are 10 enterprises for amino production; 5 for synthetic materials production, which main products are polypropylene resin, ether, EPS, ABS, etc; 136 for plastic cement production, the main products include V shape belt, synchronous micro belt and miscellaneous rubber products; 2 for chemical machinery, pressure-vessel and gas cylinder is the main products.

There is good condition to develop chemical industry in Ningbo, more and more foreign investors come to Ningbo for chemistry industry in recent years. Large international companies like US BP AMOCO, DOW CHEMICAL, Korean LG, etc, they all came to Ningbo for large-scale projects. In order to meet the needs for foreign investment and self-development, a new chemical industry zone was set up in Zhenhai by Ningbo government. The main enterprises include Zhenhai Petroleum Chemistry Holdings Co., Ltd., Ningbo Huagong Holdings (Group) Company, Ningbo Mingri Chemistry Group, Ningbo LG Yongxin Chemistry Co., Ltd. and Zhejiang Pacific Chemistry Co., Ltd., etc.

During the 10th national five-year plan, Ningbo will make an effort to develop the petroleum chemistry and fine chemistry, really make it a leading industry in Ningbo. Petroleum chemistry, based on the large enterprise like Zhenhai Petroleum Chemistry, develop the synthetic materials and basic chemistry materials, and develop the further processed products and fine chemical products. Speed up the enlargement construction of Zhenhai Petroleum Chemistry, to form a 20,000,000 comprehensive processing ability. Build up the 3rd stage of LG Yongxin's ABS project for 300,000 tons production ability, and 450,000 tons production ability for PX, 530,000 tons production ability for PTA and 200,000 tons production ability for PVC. Try to complete the large project for ethylene production, push the moving and renovation of chemical enterprises in downtown area, and speed up the construction for the Zhenhai Xiepu-Cixi Longshan chemistry industry zone. Cooperate with large international company, try to set up the large project in Meishan island-East China BP and Esso China Chemistry.