Issue 16/2020 - Global Chemicals Quick Facts

Global Chemicals Quick Review

The list of the world's top 50 chemicals is freshly released

A few days ago, the "2020 Global Chemical Top 50 List" of the American "Chemical and Engineering News" magazine was newly released, and the list of the top 50 global chemical companies was ranked according to the chemical sales revenue of each company in the
previous year.
With the break-up of DowDuPont last year, BASF regained the top spot
in the global top 50 chemical list with sales revenue of $66.
4 billion in 2019.
Affected by the slowdown in economic activities in the chemical industry, the sales revenue and operating profit of the 50 strengthening industrial enterprises in the list both declined in 2019, with a total sales revenue of US$855.
6 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 5.
0%; Forty-six of the top 50 companies reported 2019 chemical operating profit figures, totaling $71.
5 billion
.
Affected by the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the life of chemical companies in 2020 is even worse
.

Demand for epoxy resins in Asia will remain weak

Asian epoxy resin trade will remain under pressure in August, with one trader warning: "It appears that Asian epoxy prices have not bottomed out yet, as the negative impact of the sharp 18% drop in raw material bisphenol A (BPA) prices in July has yet to be felt
.
" By August, epoxy buyers will be more anticipating price cuts, arguing that sellers should translate upstream cost savings into larger discounts
on epoxy.
"In addition, as buyer interest remains subdued, price cuts will not help much, as substantial demand remains weighed
down by continued sluggish epoxy downstream production.
"

Global MDI capacity growth will slow

Huntsman executives said on a second-quarter earnings call that the company does not expect a major global expansion of diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI) this year or 2021, and current economic conditions do not support the industry to increase capacity
.
Global MDI market demand has fallen sharply due to the impact of the novel pneumonia epidemic, although consumption levels improved
at the end of the second quarter.
The company expects global MDI demand to pick up in the third quarter from lows at the beginning of the second quarter, although sales of MDI and polyurethane systems are still expected to decline 7%
year-on-year in the third quarter.
Peter Huntsman, CEO of Huntsman, said: "We may look to gradually increase capacity in the coming years, but there are no major expansion plans
at this time.
”

The global bio-based lubricants market will continue to grow rapidly

According to a new research report from Clan Consulting, despite the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, demand for bio-based lubricants will continue to grow
at a faster rate than the overall global lubricants market.
North America remains the largest consumer of
bio-based lubricants.
Sharbel Luzuriaga, project manager at Klein & Associates, said: "Due to the coronavirus pandemic, demand for bio-based lubricants in major markets worldwide will fall by 20%
in 2020.
However, we are quite optimistic about the outlook for the bio-based lubricants market, which we expect to resume in 2021 and continue into 2024
.
"Klein & Partners expects the global bio-based lubricants market to most likely achieve a CAGR of 3.
5% from 2019 to 2024
in the three hypothetical scenarios.
In a worst-case scenario, where the adverse economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic increases consumer sensitivity to prices, the global bio-based lubricants market will grow at a CAGR of 1.
6% from 2019 to 2024
.