At the 2018 China Rubber Annual Conference, Deng Yali, President of the China National Rubber Association, summarised the economic performance of China's rubber industry in 2017. That year, the nation's rubber products sector comprised 3,644 enterprises above designated size, a decrease of 324 entities. Main business revenue reached RMB 959.936 billion, representing an 8.21% year-on-year increase. Total profits reached RMB 53.55 billion, an increase of 1.80%. Fixed asset investment amounted to RMB 172.55 billion, a decrease of 2.40%, with tyre investment at RMB 42.70 billion, down 23.5% and marking the fourth consecutive year of decline. Total assets stood at RMB 852.449 billion, an increase of 8.62%. In 2017, the total export value of rubber products nationwide reached US$46.54 billion, representing a 4.94% increase. This accounted for 24.1% of the national petrochemical industry's exports, a decrease of 1.9 percentage points, yet it remained the industry's largest export sector.