The Independent Chemical Information Service (ICIS) has announced its annual ICIS Top 100 Chemical Companies listing of global producers ranked by 2018 sales.
This year, China’s Sinopec vaulted into the number one spot as the world’s leading chemical company with sales of $79.5 billion in 2018, a 25 per cent increase from 2017.
“There were dynamic shifts in the ICIS Top 100 Chemical Companies ranking, with capacity additions, mergers and acquisitions, spinoffs and currency playing major roles,” said Joseph Chang, global editor of ICIS Chemical Business.
The break-up of last year’s top company, U.S.-based DowDuPont, into three separate firms paved the way for the new leader.
Germany-based BASF came in second with 2018 sales of $71.8 billion, followed by US-based Dow with $60.3 billion. Saudi Arabia-based SABIC took the number four slot with $42.2 billion in revenue, and U.S.-based LyondellBasell was in fifth with $39 billion.
Last year saw sales growth but profit gains were hard to come by, especially with US-China trade war headwinds emerging in the latter part of the year, which contributed to massive de-stocking in the fourth quarter.
“Sales growth was certainly healthy, but the average decline in operating profit of eight per cent illustrates the margin pressure encountered by many producers in the difficult second half,” said Nigel Davis, ICIS Insight editor.
The companies in the ICIS Top 100 Chemical Companies listing generated combined sales of $1.2 trillion in 2018, up by 10 per cent from a year earlier.
The ICIS Top 100 Chemical Companies ranking is available for download as a PDF by clicking here.
ICIS is the world’s largest petrochemicals market information provider, with divisions spanning energy and fertilizers.
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