As a whole, the global chemical industry consists of many companies, but is dominated by a handful of top players. These companies have secured the top five places in the chemistry business worldwide. Accounting for more than one-tenth of
, Germany has always been a stronghold of the global chemical industry, thus, it is no wonder that BASF, a German company, ranks as the number one
. Two United States-based companies – Dow and LyondellBasell – are also among the world's top five chemical companies based on revenue. This top five ranking is completed by LG Chem from South Korea and the Canadian fertilizer company, Nutrien, based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
Revenue comparison of the leading chemical companies
BASF made some 87.3 billion euros of revenue in 2022, making it the world’s largest chemical company based on revenue. German chemical and pharmaceutical company Bayer had 50.7 billion euros of revenue in 2022 but was not included in the ranking due to the pharmaceutical aspect of the business. Dow, the
second largest chemical company to be included in the ranking based on revenue reported around 56.9 billion U.S. dollars of total revenue that year. The third, fourth, and fifth leading companies had relatively close revenues: LyondellBasell with 50.5 billion U.S. dollars, LG Chem with 39.3 billion U.S. dollars, and Nutrien with 37.9 billion U.S. dollars.
Another angle: chemical companies by net income
Chemical company
Dow was the leader in the ranking of the leading global chemical companies based on net income, generating some 4.6 billion U.S. dollars of net income in 2021. Whereas,
BASF, the world's largest chemical company based on revenue, reported a net loss of approximately 627 million euros, a stark difference from the company's net income of 5.52 billion euros the previous year.
Chemical industry employment: company snapshots
Chemical companies are important employers. Alone, the leading fifteen chemical companies based on employees
provide employment to hundreds of thousands of people all over the world. In 2023, BASF employed some 111 thousand people, making them the largest employer in the chemical industry worldwide. In the same year, the second-largest employer, Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corporation, employed some 69.8 thousand people.
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