Ranked: The Global Top 50 chemical companies for 2023

Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN) has announced its Global Top 50 list of chemical companies for 2023. BASF, Sinopec, and Dow occupy the top-three positions, followed by SABIC and ExxonMobil.

Many companies dropped from the ranking after appearing in it last year. Lanxess and DSM, both divested large polymer businesses recently, didn’t make the cut. The Chinese fast-growing chemical makers Hengyi Petrochemical and Tongkun Group were also edged out by other companies.

C&EN’s Global Top 50 chemical firms for 2023. (Source: C&EN)

Sales increased, profits declined

The world’s 50 largest chemical companies achieved the combined chemical sales of US$1.2 trillion in 2022, the fiscal year on which the list is based. That represents an increase of 17% compared with the results from the same companies in 2021, according to C&EN.

Nevertheless, instead of increased production volumes, the driving force of the sales increase was higher selling prices. When it comes to chemical profits, the 42 companies in the list that report such data combined for US$117.7 billion in 2022, a drop of 7% from those companies’ profits in 2021.

Decent performance despite headwinds

C&EN said decrease in profits is ‘modest’ considering 2022’s many challenges confronted by the global chemical industry, and overall the industry ended the year in ‘decent shape’.

One of the challenges was the disrupted supplies of natural gas to Europe resulting in sharp surge in energy prices. Meanwhile, China had a difficult year amid stringent measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Around the world, central banks raised interest rates to fight inflation, slowing economic growth.

*Click here to read C&EN's article of Global Top 50 list. (Source: C&EN)