The world’s chemical industry companies didn’t just grow in 2021, it positively swelled.

According to CEN’s latest Global Top 50 survey, the world’s 50 largest chemical industry companies, in aggregate, posted sales of $1.1 trillion in 2021, the fiscal year that forms the basis of the ranking. That’s a 38% increase over the combined total for the same 50 firms in 2020.

Profits more than kept up. Chemical operating income for the 41 firms that break out such numbers jumped 148% in 2021, hitting $127 billion.

There are two big reasons for the spike in chemical industry companies sales and earnings in 2021. First, the world’s economy sagged in 2020 on account of the COVID-19 pandemic. This downturn hit the chemical industry companies, albeit not as severely as it did industries like aerospace and automotive. The 50 firms that appeared a year ago in CEN’s survey posted a 7% decline in sales. And they posted earnings declines for the second year in a row. With the world economy recovering in 2021, it stands to reason that chemical sales recovered as well.
Both companies join similar Chinese firms, like Hengli Petrochemical and Rongsheng Petrochemical. All these companies have been building massive complexes for aromatics and derivatives, in many cases swamping entire segments of the chemical industry companies—such as purified terephthalic acid—with new capacity that is well beyond the scale of players outside China.
Once again, the blue-chip Chinese firm Sinopec is the second-largest chemical industry companies in the world. Sinopec is working on an enormous lineup of capital expansions in China. Last year in Zhenhai, it started up an ethylene cracker project and began work on a propane dehydrogenation plant that it hopes to finish in 2024. The firm is building a cracker and derivatives project in Tianjin that it expects to complete next year and is bringing another one to completion in Hainan this year. Sinopec is also constructing a massive purified terephthalic acid complex in Yizheng. Like many energy and chemical industry companies, Sinopec has gotten into the act of carbon abatement. In Zibo earlier this year, it started up a carbon-capture-and-storage project that will handle 1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually.
Meanwhile, LyondellBasell has been steadily growing its commodity chemical industry companies business. It bought 50% stakes in ethylene complexes in the US and China.
Some chemical industry companies have been ditching commodities to focus on specialties. LyondellBasell Industries is exiting refining so it can better home in on commodities.
The number of global chemical imports amounted to US$2.15 trillion in 2020, and the overall value of chemical exports was US$1.78 trillion. This increase makes the chemical resources industry one of the most active and complex industries worldwide. It was valued at US$3.82 trillion in 2020.
With a share of 10.8% in 2020, Germany ranked first when it came to global chemical exports. BASF has been the german market leader for the past five years, generating a revenue of US$85.9 billion in 2021.
The list below shows the top 100 companies in the market, ranked by revenue. It is sourced through data partners and validated through our team of Company Insights analysts.