Summary of the 2022 fiscal year performance of the world’s top 50 chemical companies

Lanxess achieved a 32.6% year-on-year increase in sales revenue in 2022, reaching €8.088 billion; EBITDA from continuing operations rose 14.1% to €930 million. Nouryon reported sales of approximately $5.8 billion in 2022, up 17% year-on-year; adjusted EBITDA increased 15% to $1.24 billion. III. North America Dow posted net sales of $56.9 billion in 2022, down 3.45% year-on-year; net profit declined by over 27% to $4.64 billion. In Q4 alone, net sales totaled $11.859 billion, down 17.6% year-on-year; net profit was $647 million, down 64.05% year-on-year. LyondellBasell recorded sales of $50.45 billion in 2022; net profit stood at $3.9 billion, down from $5.6 billion in the prior year; EBITDA was $6.3 billion, down from $8.7 billion. Nutrien achieved sales of $37.884 billion in 2022, up 37% year-on-year; EBITDA reached $12.2 billion, up 71%; net profit totaled $7.7 billion, up 142%. Sherwin-Williams reported full-year net sales of $22.149 billion (approx. RMB 149.5 billion), up 11.1% year-on-year; net profit was $2.0201 billion, up 8.35%. Mosaic reported revenue of $19.1 billion in 2022, up 55% year-on-year; adjusted EBITDA was $6.2 billion, up 73% versus 2021; net income was $3.6 billion, up 120%. PPG Industries reported net sales of $17.7 billion in 2022, up ~5% year-on-year; net profit was $1.028 billion, down 28%. Corteva achieved full-year net sales growth of 11% to $17.46 billion; GAAP net profit was $1.22 billion, down 33%; adjusted EBITDA rose 25% to $3.22 billion. Westlake Chemical Group reported net sales of $13.4 billion and net profit of $3.35 billion in 2022. DuPont reported net sales growth of 8% to $13.0 billion in 2022; EBITDA rose 3% to $3.26 billion; GAAP net profit was $1.06 billion, down 12%. Air Products reported fiscal-year sales of $12.7 billion, up from $10.3 billion the prior year; net income attributable to the company was approximately $2.3 billion, up from $2.1 billion. Eastman reported full-year sales of $10.58 billion in 2022, essentially flat versus 2021; EBIT was $1.159 billion, slightly below $1.281 billion in 2021; adjusted EBIT was $1.339 billion, down 18% year-on-year. CF Industries reported net sales of $11.19 billion in 2022, versus $6.54 billion in 2021; net profit was $3.35 billion; adjusted EBITDA was $5.88 billion. Celanese reported net sales of $9.7 billion in 2022—a record high—up 13% year-on-year; consolidated operating profit was $1.4 billion; adjusted EBIT was $2.2 billion.

ICIS Global Top 100 Chemical Companies: Who’s truly strong, who’s merely bloated? What will define future competition in the chemical industry?

After all, there are few remaining tailwinds for the chemical industry—and the old model of winning purely through scale is no longer effective. Friends of Wanhua Chemical: Where do you see Wanhua’s breakthrough opportunities lying in the future? III. The largest company is not necessarily the most profitable. Another notable trend revealed in this year’s ranking data is the stark contrast between size and profitability. Among the global top 10, eight companies disclosed operating profit and EBIT. Their combined sales amounted to approximately $366.2 billion, while their aggregate EBIT totaled only about $2.66 billion—implying a weighted average EBIT margin of just ~0.7%. In contrast, among the 83 companies ranked #11–#100 that disclosed EBIT, the weighted average EBIT margin stood at ~4.2%. Wanhua and Rongsheng did not disclose EBIT, so the 0.7% figure does not represent the complete top-10 average; moreover, business scopes and financial reporting standards vary across companies. Although the data may not be perfectly precise, the disparity is real and striking: the world’s largest chemical enterprises are not the ones with the strongest profit conversion capability. BASF exemplifies this perfectly: in 2025, its sales reached $70.004 billion—the highest globally—but its operating profit was only $1.917 billion. Shin-Etsu Chemical, by comparison, posted sales of $16.413 billion—less than one-quarter of BASF’s—yet generated an operating profit of $4.05 billion, more than double BASF’s. BASF is bigger; Shin-Etsu is more profitable. These two companies operate fundamentally different businesses—differing in asset intensity, cyclical exposure, customer relationships, and pricing power. Sales volume reflects only relative size—not strength. IV. The global chemical industry isn’t uniformly deteriorating; it’s rapidly polarizing. Of the 100 ranked companies, 91 disclosed EBIT: 53 posted operating margins below 5%, 26 incurred operating losses, and only 20 maintained double-digit EBIT margins. The chemical industry is undergoing severe polarization amid broader weakness. Covestro reported an operating loss of $407 million; Westlake Chemical lost $1.426 billion; Celanese lost $786 million; Versalis posted an operating loss of $1.672 billion; FMC lost $1.647 billion. Meanwhile, Shin-Etsu, NewMarket, and Givaudan continue to demonstrate robust profit-conversion capabilities. If all companies were declining simultaneously, it might simply reflect a cyclical downturn. But within the same cycle, some firms suffer massive losses while others sustain operating margins above 20%. That makes product mix, cost positioning, customer switching costs, technological barriers, and capital intensity critically important. The cycle hasn’t disappeared—it has magnified previously hidden differences among business models. V. What matters is not pursuing ‘high-end’ products per se, but optimizing the quality of the product portfolio. Commodity chemicals face persistent margin pressure, while specialty chemicals show stronger profitability—leading many to conclude the industry’s direction must be ‘moving upmarket.’ Yet oversimplifying the issue as ‘commodities = bad, specialties = good’ is not an accurate commercial assessment. A commodity chemical enterprise with low-cost feedstocks, highly efficient assets, and a globally leading cost curve can generate excellent returns on capital. Conversely, a so-called specialty chemical firm—whose products lack meaningful barriers to entry, whose customers face negligible switching costs, and into which competitors flood—may earn little or no profit.

Westlake Chemical Partners LP Reports Q2 Revenue of $297.1 Million

Aug 4, 2026

Westlake Chemical Partners LP reported second-quarter 2026 revenue of $297.1 million. The company operates ethylene production facilities and pipelines across Kentucky and Louisiana with an annual capacity of approximately 3.7 billion pounds.

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Westlake Chemical Partners LP Q2 2026: Revenue $297.1M, EPS $0.40 — 10-Q Summary

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Westlake Chemical Partners LP Reports Q1 Revenue $305.7M, Below FactSet Estimate

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Westlake Chemical Partners LP (NYSE:WLKP) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

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Westlake Chemical Partners outlines growth levers as it reports $0.4714 quarterly distribution and no planned 2026 turnarounds

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Westlake Chemical Partners (WLKP) EPS Growth And 8.04% Yield Test Income Bull Narrative