List of largest chemical producers

The Friedrich-Engelhorn-Hochhaus, headquarters of BASF from 1957 to 2013

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, 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]

Top fifty producers by sales (2021)

Rank [4]	Company	Chemical sales in 2021 USD millions [A]	Change from 2020 in percent	Headquarters
1	BASF	92,982	32.9%	Germany, Ludwigshafen am Rhein
2	Sinopec	65,848	31.9%	China, Beijing
3	Dow	54,968	42.6%	United States, Midland, Michigan
4	SABIC	43,230	50.1%	Saudi Arabia, Riyadh
5	Formosa Plastics	43,173	47.8%	Taiwan, Taipei
6	Ineos	39,937	121%	United Kingdom, London
7	Petrochina	39,693	41.7%	China, Beijing
8	LyondellBasell Industries	38,995	66.6%	United States, Houston, Texas
9	LG Chem	37,257	41.8%	South Korea, Seoul
10	ExxonMobil	36,858	59.6%	United States, Spring, Texas
11	Mitsubishi Chemical Group	30,719	24.8%	Japan, Tokyo
12	Hengli Petrochemical	27,961	31.9%	China, Suzhou
13	Linde	27,926	14.5%	Ireland, Dublin
14	Air Liquide	27,148	13.4%	France, Paris
15	Syngenta	24,900	20.9%	Switzerland, Basel
16	Reliance Industries	22,583	65.6%	India, Mumbai
17	Wanhua	22,561	98.2%	China, Yantai
18	Braskem	19,575	80.4%	Brazil, São Paulo
19	Sumitomo Chemical	19,176	24.7%	Japan, Tokyo and Osaka
20	Shin-Etsu Chemical	18,885	38.6%	Japan, Tokyo
21	Covestro	18,813	48.5%	Germany, Leverkusen
22	Toray Industries	17,856	20.9%	Japan, Tokyo
23	Evonik Industries	17,692	22.6%	Germany, Essen
24	Shell	16,993	45.0%	United Kingdom, London
25	DuPont	16,653	18.4%	United States, Wilmington, Delaware
26	Yara	16,617	43.4%	Norway, Oslo
27	Rongsheng Petrochemical	16,001	59.6%	China, Hangzhou
28	Lotte Chemical	15,827	48.2%	South Korea, Seoul
29	Mitsui Chemicals	14,681	33.1%	Japan, Tokyo
30	Indorama Ventures	14,626	41.2%	Thailand, Bangkok
31	Chevron Phillips Chemical	14,104	67.1%	United States, The Woodlands, Texas
32	Umicore	13,567	34.4%	Belgium, Brussels
33	Solvay	13,527	17.7%	Belgium, Brussels
34	Bayer	12,743	9.7%	Germany, Leverkusen
35	Mosaic	12,357	42.3%	United States, Plymouth, Minnesota
36	Nutrien	11,590	62.0%	Canada, Saskatoon
37	Arkema	11,261	20.7%	France, Colombes
38	Asahi Kasei	10,908	20.9%	Japan, Tokyo
39	DSM	10,888	13.5%	Netherlands, Heerlen
39	Hanwha Solutions	10,888	22.8%	South Korea, Seoul
41	Eastman Chemical	10,476	23.6%	United States, Kingsport, Tennessee
42	Johnson Matthey	10,412	2.48%	United Kingdom, London
43	Air Products	10,323	16.6%	United States, Allentown, Pennsylvania
44	Eurochem	14,269	22.6%	Switzerland, Zug
45	Borealis	10,164	26.0%	Austria, Vienna
46	PTT Global Chemical	16,521	51.7%	Thailand, Bangkok
47	Sasol	9,011	10.8%	South Africa, Johannesburg
48	Tongkun Group	8,996	28.5%	China, Tongxiang
49	Lanxess	8,940	23.8%	Germany, Cologne
50	Hengyi Petrochemical	8,858	66.8%	China, Hangzhou

Top fifty producers by sales (2018)

Rank	Company	Chemical sales in 2018 USD millions [A]	Change from 2017 in percent	Headquarters
1	DowDuPont	85,977	37.6	Midland, Michigan, US
2	BASF	74,066	2.4	Ludwigshafen, Germany
3	Sinopec	69,210	22.4	Beijing, China
4	Sabic	42,120	12	Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
5	Ineos	36,970	2.1	London, UK
6	Formosa Plastics [B]	36,891	13.8	Taipei, Taiwan
7	ExxonMobil Chemical	32,443	13.1	Irving, Texas, US
8	LyondellBasell Industries	30,783	8.7	Houston, Texas US/ Rotterdam, Netherlands
9	Mitsubishi Chemical	28,747	7.1	Tokyo, Japan
10	DuPont	25,935	37.6	Wilmington, Delaware, US
11	LG Chem	25,637	9.7	Seoul, South Korea
12	Reliance Industries	25,167	37.3	Mumbai, India
13	PetroChina	24,849	n/a	Beijing, China
14	Air Liquide	24,322	2.8	Paris, France
15	Toray Industries	18,651	8.7	Tokyo, Japan
16	Evonik Industries	17,755	4.2	Essen, Germany
17	Covestro	17,273	3.4	Leverkusen, Germany
18	Bayer [C]	16,859	49	Leverkusen, Germany
19	Sumitomo Chemical	16,081	8.7	Tokyo, Japan
20	Braskem	15,885	17.7	São Paulo, Brazil
21	Lotte Chemical	15,051	4.2	Seoul, South Korea
22	Linde plc	14,900	30.3	Dublin, Ireland
23	Shin-Etsu Chemical [C]	14,439	10.6	Tokyo, Japan
24	Mitsui Chemicals	13,432	11.6	Tokyo, Japan
25	Solvay	13,353	3.7	Brussels, Belgium
26	Yara	12,928	13.8	Oslo, Norway
27	Chevron Phillips Chemical	11,310	24.8	The Woodlands, Texas, US
28	DSM	10,951	7.4	Heerlen, Netherlands
29	Indorama	10,747	21.2	Jakarta, Indonesia
30	Asahi Kasei	10,654	8.1	Tokyo, Japan
31	Arkema	10,418	5.9	Colombes, France
32	Syngenta	10,413	12.6	Basel, Switzerland
33	Eastman Chemical	10,151	6.3	Kingsport, Tennessee, US
34	Borealis	9,852	10.2	Vienna, Austria
35	SK Innovation	9,719	14.4	Seoul, South Korea
36	Mosaic	9,587	29.4	Tampa, Florida, US
37	Huntsman	9,379	12.2	The Woodlands, Texas, US
38	Wanhua Chemical	9,172	14.1	Yantai, China
39	PTT Global Chemical	8,969	15.7	Bangkok, Thailand
40	Ecolab [C]	8,964	11	Saint Paul, Minnesota, US
41	Air Products & Chemicals	8,930	9.1	Allentown, Pennsylvania, US
42	Westlake Chemical	8,635	7.4	Houston, US
43	Lanxess	8,505	-25.5	Cologne, Germany
44	Nutrien	8,130	75.9	Saskatoon, Canada
45	Umicore [C]	8,113	27.1	Brussels, Belgium
46	Sasol	8,110	4.2	Sandton, South Africa
47	Tosoh	7,803	4.7	Tokyo, Japan
48	Johnson Matthey [C]	7,579	16.1	London, UK
49	DIC	7,296	2	Tokyo, Japan
50	Hanwha Chemical [D]	7,273	3.3	Seoul, South Korea
51	Celanese	7,155	16.5	Irving, Texas, US

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, R  13.2255, 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]

Largest companies since 1988

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 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	[5]
1989	BASF	17,122	[6]
1990	BASF	18,520	[7]
1991	ICI	18,127	[8]
1992	BASF	22,883	[9]
1993	Hoechst	16,682	[10]
1994	Hoechst	19,702	[11]
1995	BASF	22,030	[12]
1996	BASF	26,519	[13]
1997	BASF	27,047	[14]
1998	BASF	27,740	[15]
1999	BASF	31,250	[16]
2000	BASF	30,791	[17]
2001	Dow Chemical	27,805	[18]
2002	Dow Chemical	27,609	[19]
2003	Dow Chemical	32,632	[20]
2004	Dow Chemical	40,161	[21]
2005	Dow Chemical	46,307	[22]
2006	BASF	49,516	[23]
2007	BASF	65,037	[24]
2008	BASF	70,485	[25]
2009	BASF	54,817	[26]
2010	BASF	70,391	[27]
2011	BASF	85,603	[28]
2012	BASF	79,760	[29]
2013	BASF	78,615	[30]
2014	BASF	78,698	[31]
2015	BASF	63,749	[32]
2016	BASF	60,653	[33]
2017	BASF	69,195	[2]
2018	DowDuPont	85,977	[1]
2019	BASF	66,400	[34]
2020	BASF	67,500	[35]
2021	BASF	92,982	[4]

A. ^{^} Foreign currencies converted to USD using average exchange rates of that year.

References

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