ICIS (Independent Commodity Intelligence Services) announced its global ranking of the leading chemical producers based on 2023 sales, with most experiencing significant declines in sales.
Leading the top 5 is BASF (Germany), the world’s largest chemical company, with sales of $76.1 billion in 2023, down 21.1% year on year. Next are “China-based Sinopec with $71.3 billion in chemical sales, followed by US-based Dow with $44.6 billion, US-based LyondellBasell with $41.1 billion and US-based ExxonMobil with $40.7 billion.”
States Nigel Davis, senior executive at ICIS, “Companies across the sector from commodity to specialty manufacturers were impacted by weak demand, destocked supply chains, and energy and logistics woes. China demand did not bounce back from COVID shutdowns as everyone hoped.”
Other highlights from the ranking, directly quoted:
- Overall for the Top 100, sales declined by an average of 9.1% in 2023. Over the course of the year, sales volumes largely were not growing with weak demand seen up and down supply chains.
- Only a handful of companies in the ICIS Top 100 reported an increase in sales in 2024 with acquisitions and portfolio impacts playing a part in some of the increases seen.
- In 2023, coatings producers were among those able to buck the general chemicals industry trend and improve operating profits year on year.
- Some improvement will be shown in 2024 as some market growth lifts the sector but there is little visibility on an upturn. Chemicals output is improving slightly but operating rates remain depressed, and concerns remain about the health of major demand sectors for the industry such as construction and automobiles.
Note: The listing focuses on chemicals. Some of the major fertilizer, agrochemical and pharmaceutical producers are not included.
You can download the ranking via the press release here.
Image by Christian Supik (Fotografie) + Manuela Supik (Design) from Pixabay
