The world’s chemical manufacturing companies has recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic and is now riding the wave of higher prices
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 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 manufacturing companies, albeit not as severely as it did industries like aerospace and automotive. The 50 firms that appeared a year ago in C&EN’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.

Also related to the spike is inflation, the likes of which some countries around the world haven’t seen in decades. According to the Energy Information Administration, the US benchmark oil price rose from $47.07 per barrel in December 2020 to $71.69 a year later.
The chemical industry, most of which relies on oil as a raw material, responded by raising prices in kind. According to LyondellBasell Industries, US and European ethylene prices increased by 35% and 60%, respectively, in 2021, while polyethylene prices rose about 45%. Prices for ammonia more than doubled.

Thus, the healthiest sales increases seen in the Global Top 50 came from petrochemical chemical manufacturing companies. Sabic, Formosa Plastics, PetroChina, LyondellBasell Industries, and ExxonMobil Chemical all clocked in with sales increases of 40% or more. Also riding the crest of the commodity price wave are fertilizer makers such as Yara, Nutrien, and Mosaic, which posted astounding increases in sales.

A few chemical manufacturing companies in the 2021 ranking fell off in 2022 because they didn’t have enough sales to make the cut. These are the US petrochemical maker Westlake, the US agricultural chemical producer Corteva Agriscience, and the Japanese chemical makers Tosoh and DIC.

Joining the ranking for the first time is EuroChem Group, one of the fertilizer makers that got a lift from higher commodity prices. It debuts at number 44. Thailand’s PTT Global Chemical returns at 46 after a 1-year hiatus.

Two Chinese newcomers make the ranking: TongKun Group at 48 and Hengyi Petrochemical at 50. Both are polyester producers that make their own raw materials. Hengyi also has a large, integrated nylon 6 business. Both chemical manufacturing companies join similar Chinese firms, like Hengli Petrochemical and Rongsheng Petrochemical. All these chemical manufacturing companies have been building massive complexes for aromatics and derivatives, in many cases swamping entire segments of the chemical industry—such as purified terephthalic acid—with new capacity that is well beyond the scale of players outside China.