List of largest chemical producers
Chemical & Engineering News publishes an annual list of the world's largest chemical producers by sales, excluding formulated products such as pharmaceutical drugs and coatings.[1] In 2018, sales of the top fifty companies amounted to US$951,000,000,000, an increase of 11.8% compared to the top fifty producers of 2017.[2] The American Chemistry Council estimated that global chemical sales in 2014 rose by 3.7% to US$5,389,000,000,000.[3]
In 2018, DowDuPont, the result of the 2017 merger between Dow Chemical and DuPont, became the world's top chemical producer. It ends BASF’s 12-year streak as the largest chemical company in the world, but DowDuPont then split into three separate firms—Dow, DuPont, and Corteva Agriscience—in early 2019.[1] In 2018, More than half of the companies on the list were headquartered in the United States (10), Japan (eight) or Germany (five); 18 countries in total were represented.[1]
In 2018, Forty-eight of the companies on the list disclosed chemical profits, which totaled US$110,100,000,000, an increase of 1.3% from 2017. The average profit margin for chemical operations for these companies was 9.6%.[1]
The top fifty producers in 2018 by sales
Rank | Company | Chemical sales in 2018 USD millions[A] |
Change from 2017 in percent |
Headquarters |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | DowDuPont[C] | 85,977 | 37.6 | |
2 | BASF | 74,066 | 2.4 | |
3 | Sinopec | 69,210 | 22.4 | |
4 | Sabic | 42,120 | 12 | |
5 | Ineos | 36,970 | 2.1 | |
6 | Formosa Plastics[B] | 36,891 | 13.8 | |
7 | ExxonMobil Chemical | 32,443 | 13.1 | |
8 | LyondellBasell Industries | 30,783 | 8.7 | |
9 | Mitsubishi Chemical | 28,747 | 7.1 | |
10 | LG Chem | 25,637 | 9.7 | |
11 | Reliance Industries | 25,167 | 37.3 | |
12 | PetroChina | 24,849 | n/a | |
13 | Air Liquide | 24,322 | 2.8 | |
14 | Toray Industries | 18,651 | 8.7 | |
15 | Evonik Industries | 17,755 | 4.2 | |
16 | Covestro | 17,273 | 3.4 | |
17 | Bayer[C] | 16,859 | 49 | |
18 | Sumitomo Chemical | 16,081 | 8.7 | |
19 | Braskem | 15,885 | 17.7 | |
20 | Lotte Chemical | 15,051 | 4.2 | |
21 | Linde plc | 14,900 | 30.3 | |
22 | Shin-Etsu Chemical[C] | 14,439 | 10.6 | |
23 | Mitsui Chemicals | 13,432 | 11.6 | |
24 | Solvay | 13,353 | 3.7 | |
25 | Yara | 12,928 | 13.8 | |
26 | Chevron Phillips Chemical | 11,310 | 24.8 | |
27 | DSM | 10,951 | 7.4 | |
28 | Indorama | 10,747 | 21.2 | |
29 | Asahi Kasei | 10,654 | 8.1 | |
30 | Arkema | 10,418 | 5.9 | |
31 | Syngenta | 10,413 | 12.6 | |
32 | Eastman Chemical | 10,151 | 6.3 | |
33 | Borealis | 9,852 | 10.2 | |
34 | SK Innovation | 9,719 | 14.4 | |
35 | Mosaic | 9,587 | 29.4 | |
36 | Huntsman | 9,379 | 12.2 | |
37 | Wanhua Chemical | 9,172 | 14.1 | |
38 | PTT Global Chemical | 8,969 | 15.7 | |
39 | Ecolab[C] | 8,964 | 11 | |
40 | Air Products & Chemicals | 8,930 | 9.1 | |
41 | Westlake Chemical | 8,635 | 7.4 | |
42 | Lanxess | 8,505 | -25.5 | |
43 | Nutrien | 8,130 | 75.9 | |
44 | Umicore[C] | 8,113 | 27.1 | |
45 | Sasol | 8,110 | 4.2 | |
46 | Tosoh | 7,803 | 4.7 | |
47 | Johnson Matthey[C] | 7,579 | 16.1 | |
48 | DIC | 7,296 | 2 | |
49 | Hanwha Chemical[D] | 7,273 | 3.3 | |
50 | Celanese | 7,155 | 16.5 |
- A.^ Some figures converted at 2018 average exchange rates of US$1.00 = R$3.6513 Brazilian, CN¥ 6.609, €0.8462, ₹67.16, ¥110.1, ₩1,099.29, ر.س 3.75, R13.2255, CHF 0.9784, NT$30.129, and ฿32.303.[1]
- B.^ Estimate by Chemical and Engineering News.[1]
- C.^ Sales include a significant amount of non-chemical products.[1]
- D.^ Chemical sales less administrative expenses and cost of sales.[1]
The largest companies before 2019
Since Chemical & Engineering News began keeping records in 1989, BASF has been the world's largest chemical producer by annual sales more frequently than any other company. The other companies that have headed the list are Dow Chemical, DowDuPont (which broke up into a Dow, a new DuPont, and Corteva Agriscience in 2019), Hoechst (which merged with Rhône-Poulenc in 1999 and is now a subsidiary of Sanofi), ICI (acquired by AkzoNobel in 2008) and Bayer.
Year | Company | Chemical sales USD millions[A] |
Source |
---|---|---|---|
1988 | Bayer | 22,694 | [4] |
1989 | BASF | 17,122 | [5] |
1990 | BASF | 18,520 | [6] |
1991 | ICI | 18,127 | [7] |
1992 | BASF | 22,883 | [8] |
1993 | Hoechst | 16,682 | [9] |
1994 | Hoechst | 19,702 | [10] |
1995 | BASF | 22,030 | [11] |
1996 | BASF | 26,519 | [12] |
1997 | BASF | 27,047 | [13] |
1998 | BASF | 27,740 | [14] |
1999 | BASF | 31,250 | [15] |
2000 | BASF | 30,791 | [16] |
2001 | Dow Chemical | 27,805 | [17] |
2002 | Dow Chemical | 27,609 | [18] |
2003 | Dow Chemical | 32,632 | [19] |
2004 | Dow Chemical | 40,161 | [20] |
2005 | Dow Chemical | 46,307 | [21] |
2006 | BASF | 49,516 | [22] |
2007 | BASF | 65,037 | [23] |
2008 | BASF | 70,485 | [24] |
2009 | BASF | 54,817 | [25] |
2010 | BASF | 70,391 | [26] |
2011 | BASF | 85,603 | [27] |
2012 | BASF | 79,760 | [28] |
2013 | BASF | 78,615 | [29] |
2014 | BASF | 78,698 | [30] |
2015 | BASF | 63,749 | [31] |
2016 | BASF | 60,653 | [32] |
2017 | BASF | 69,195 | [2] |
2018 | DowDuPont | 85,977 | [1] |
- A.^ Foreign currencies converted to USD using average exchange rates of that year.
References
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