China is a major producer of API. In 2012, the output of API was 1.36 million tons, an increase of 9.05% year on year, ranking first in the world. Economies of scale benefit from the low cost of production in China and environmental pollution. In the current situation of rising prices and strengthening environmental management in China, the cost advantage of industry development becomes less obvious.

Internationally, India, China's biggest competitor, has obvious advantages over China in both cost advantages and speed of industry development, although it is not as big as China in terms of industry development scale.