Metallurgy / Chemicals / Rubber & Plastics

The US "Chemical and Engineering News" (C&EN) recently released a list of the top 50 global chemical companies in 2021. Among the top 50 companies in the world, there are 10 in the United States, 8 in Japan, 5 in Germany, and 3 each in South Korea and the United Kingdom. BASF is still the world's largest chemical manufacturer; Sinopec ranked second for the second consecutive year; Dow Chemical is still third.

BASF ranks first, with chemical sales of US$67.49 billion in 2020, a slight decrease of 0.3% compared to 2019; Sinopec’s chemical sales of US$46.66 billion, the gap with BASF has widened significantly, lagging by nearly US$21 billion ; Dow's sales were 38.54 billion U.S. dollars, down 10.3%.

Seven Chinese chemical companies have entered the global top 50, an increase of one from the previous year. It is worth noting that the rankings of Chinese companies are basically flat or rising, reflecting the vigorous development of China's chemical industry. Except for Sinopec and Formosa Plastics, China National Petroleum Corporation ranked 13th in the same position as last year; Hengli Petrochemical ranked 15th, up 11 places sharply; Sinochem's Syngenta ranked 26th; Wanhua Chemical ranked 29th . Rongsheng Petrochemical entered the top 50 for the first time this year, ranking 42nd.

Ineos’ sales of US$31.31 billion ranked fourth, up two places; Saudi Basic Industries Corporation’s sales of US$28.79 billion, ranked fifth, down one place; Formosa Plastics dropped one place and ranked sixth; LG Chem A sharp rise of 5 places, ranking 7th; Mitsubishi Chemical dropped 1 place, ranking 8th; Linde and Lyondell Basel swapped positions and ranked 9th and 10th.

The income threshold for the top 50 this year is US$6.4 billion. There is only one BASF company with sales of more than US$50 billion; one company with sales between US$40 billion and US$50 billion is reduced, leaving only Sinopec; two companies with sales of US$30 billion to US$40 billion are Dow and Ineos; and 20 billion. There are 10 companies with ~30 billion U.S. dollars; 17 companies with 10-20 billion U.S. dollars.

In 2020, the global chemical industry has withstood the test of the new crown epidemic without a cliff-like decline. The global top 50 chemical sales totaled US$795.8 billion, a decrease of 7.1% from 2019.

Among the top 50 companies, 44 companies disclosed profit data. In 2020, chemical profits fell by 22.6%. In 2019, the profits of 46 companies that disclosed profit data fell sharply by 28.2%. Although last year's data fluctuates greatly, the companies on the list have not changed much. Companies with a large amount of petrochemical business have generally experienced sales declines and their rankings have also declined. Companies that manufacture industrial gases or agrochemicals have risen significantly. Three of the top 50 companies last year failed to be shortlisted this year. Ecolab has divested its oilfield chemical business; SK Innovation and PTT Global Chemical are both victims of the decline in petrochemical sales. Shell Chemistry broke the decline in chemical sales once again, and re-entered the top 50 in the world after a lapse of five years; the former DuPont agricultural chemical company Corteva Agricultural Technology ranked 50th.