2024 Global Top 100 Chemical Companies Analysis Report

BASF, the world’s largest chemical company, achieved balanced performance across its three major divisions—Chemicals, Materials Monomers, and Industrial Solutions—with net profit margins of 11–12% in 2023. Its Surface Technologies and Nutrition & Care divisions delivered stable results, posting net profit margins of 8–10%. Additionally, BASF’s Agricultural Solutions division generated $10.09 billion in revenue and achieved a net profit margin of 22.5%, significantly boosting the company’s overall profitability. SABIC’s Chemicals, Polymers, and Specialties divisions generated $35 billion in revenue with a net profit margin of 11.1%. Beyond traditional ethylene, propylene, and polyolefin products, SABIC performed well in advanced polymers and specialty materials—including polycarbonate, polyimide, polyphenylene ether, polyetherimide, and elastomers. In agricultural nutrition, SABIC excelled, achieving an exceptionally high net profit margin of 42.7% and over $2.7 billion in revenue. LyondellBasell—one of the world’s largest producers of polyolefins and ethylene oxide/propylene oxide derivatives—exhibits strong regional revenue dependence: its olefins business in the Americas performed well, benefiting from low-cost U.S. shale gas and ethane, which lowered ethylene and propylene production costs. In contrast, its olefins operations in Europe and Asia posted a net profit margin of −9%, suffering losses primarily due to reliance on petroleum-based feedstocks and rising oil prices that increased production costs. Celanese demonstrated strength in its Acetyl Chain business, achieving a net profit margin exceeding 25%. Its engineering materials portfolio—including high-end polyamides, liquid crystal polymers (LCP), elastomers, and high-temperature polyesters—also performed well, delivering a net profit margin of 13.8%. Other companies: Air Liquide and Air Products (industrial gases); Syngenta, Petronas Chemicals, and Corteva (agrochemicals); Evonik (specialty chemicals); DSM-Firmenich (flavors and fragrances); Albemarle (lithium chemicals); Olin (ammunition and chlor-alkali); Chemours and AGC (fluorochemicals); Kuraray, Daicel, Corteva, and Sekisui Chemical (acetyl chain); Clariant (personal care and crop protection); and Johnson Matthey (catalysts) all reported solid profitability. III) Companies whose core businesses center on basic chemicals, petroleum refining, commodity plastics, and polyester fibers generally exhibit low net profit margins—between 0% and 10%. LG Chem’s petrochemicals; Formosa Plastics’ basic chemicals and commodity plastics; Rongsheng Petrochemical’s PTA and polyester; Wanhua Chemical’s petrochemical segment (mainly basic chemicals and commodity plastics); Hengli’s refining/PTA/polyester operations; Lotte Chemical’s basic chemicals/rubber/commodity plastics; Mitsui Chemicals’ basic raw materials (basic chemicals and commodity plastics); Tongkun Group’s chemical fibers and PTA; Hengyi’s PTA/fibers/basic chemicals; Hanwha’s basic chemicals; Xin Feng Ming’s fibers and PTA; SK Innovation’s petroleum chemicals; Borealis’ basic chemicals and commodity plastics; GS Caltex’s olefins and aromatics—all report traditionally low-margin product lines, with profitability generally below 5%, resulting in suboptimal overall performance and net profit margins ranging from 0% to 5%, barely sustaining profitability. Companies reporting net profit margins between 5% and 10% share similarities with those in the 0–5% bracket: their revenues are largely derived from low-margin segments such as basic chemicals, petroleum refining, and commodity plastics (e.g., polyethylene and polypropylene).

20 Companies! Summary of 2024 Financial Results for Chemical Giants!

Clariant announced its 2024 fiscal year results on February 28: sales totaled CHF 4.152 billion, down 3% year-on-year in local currency terms—meeting expectations; EBITDA amounted to CHF 657 million, up 8% year-on-year; net income reached CHF 280 million, up 56.4%; EBIT stood at CHF 440 million, up 56%; EBITDA margin was 15.8%, up 190 basis points year-on-year; pre-special-items margin was 16.0%, up 140 basis points. Honeywell On February 6, Honeywell announced its full-year 2024 financial results: total sales reached $38.5 billion, up 5% year-on-year, with organic sales growth of 3%. Operating income totaled $7.441 billion, up 5% year-on-year; operating margin remained flat, while segment profit rose 1% and segment margin contracted by 90 basis points—driven by robust performance in long-cycle industrial automation businesses outpacing short-cycle recovery. Additionally, Honeywell announced plans to spin off into three independent, publicly traded companies: Automation, Aerospace, and Advanced Materials. Chemours On February 18, Chemours released its 2024 fiscal year results: net sales totaled $5.8 billion, down 5% year-on-year; net income was $86 million (compared to a $2.37 billion loss in 2023); adjusted EBITDA was $786 million, down 22% year-on-year. Furthermore, the company stated it will conduct a strategic review of the asset footprint of its European Advanced Performance Materials (APM) business. LyondellBasell On January 31, LyondellBasell Industries reported its full-year 2024 results: net income was $1.4 billion, down 35.6% year-on-year; EBITDA totaled $3.5 billion, down 23.4% year-on-year; EBITDA excluding identified items was $4.3 billion. The company attributed the decline primarily to persistent global demand weakness, rising raw material costs, and macroeconomic uncertainty across the petrochemical market in 2024. Broad softness in durable goods demand weighed heavily on margins in its Olefins & Polyolefins and Intermediates & Derivatives segments. Meanwhile, recovery in margins for its Advanced Polymer Solutions segment remained constrained by declining global automobile production. Comparisons with the prior quarter (Q4 2023) and full-year 2023 are provided in the table below. ExxonMobil On January 31, ExxonMobil announced its full-year 2024 results: earnings totaled $33.7 billion, down 6.5% from $36.0 billion in 2023; operating cash flow reached $55.0 billion, and free cash flow stood at $34.4 billion. In Q4 2024 alone, earnings were $7.6 billion, down 11.6% sequentially; operating cash flow was $12.2 billion, and free cash flow was $8.0 billion. Eastman Chemical On January 30, Eastman Chemical Company reported its 2024 fiscal year results: sales totaled $9.382 billion, up 1.88% from $9.210 billion in 2023;

LyondellBasell Cites Olefin, Polyolefin Margins for Sequential Earnings Drop

12 hours ago

LyondellBasell reported a sequential drop in Q3 adjusted net income as lower olefin and polyolefin pricing squeezed margins. Revenue rose year-over-year despite segment declines, supported by strong oxyfuels margins and improved gasoline blending economics.

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