Chemical Manufacturing Industry Profile

The US chemicals industry includes about 10,000 companies with combined annual revenue of about $700 billion. Major companies include Dow, DuPont, Eastman Chemical, ExxonMobil Chemical, and Huntsman. The US industry is concentrated: the 50 largest firms generate more than half of industry revenue.

The global chemical manufacturing industry generates about $4 trillion in annual revenue. Major chemical manufacturers based outside the US include BASF (Germany), Roche (Switzerland), Mitsubishi Chemical (Japan), INEOS Group (UK), and LyondellBasell (the Netherlands).

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Because chemicals are used to make a wide variety of industrial and consumer products, demand is driven by the overall health of the US economy. The profitability of individual companies is closely tied to efficient operations. Big companies have large economies of scale in production. Small companies can compete effectively by producing specialty products, of which there are a large number, or by operating a single plant highly efficiently. The industry is capital-intensive: average annual revenue per employee is about $900,000.

Because they often have a high value-to-weight ratio, many chemicals are traded internationally and many US manufacturers have production plants overseas. The largest sources of US chemical imports are Ireland and Canada. The biggest export markets for US chemicals are Canada and Mexico.

PRODUCTS, OPERATIONS & TECHNOLOGY

Basic chemicals include petrochemicals, industrial gases, dyes and pigments, alkalies and chlorine, alcohols, and various other organic (based on the chemistry of carbon and oxygen) and inorganic chemicals. These basic chemicals are ...