The number of Chinese chemical companies selected for the list of the top 50 global chemical companies has increased from the original two to four. Among them, Wanhua Chemical has become the “dark horse” in the first half of the year.
Thanks to the increase in chemical prices and sales, the performance of the world’s major chemical giants in the first half of the year generally improved.
As of August 7, nearly 2/3 of the top 20 chemical companies in the global chemical industry have published semi-annual performance reports. For the first time, BASF SE (BASF SE), which is ranked first in the top 50 in the chemical industry, was overtaken by Dow DuPont Co., the world’s largest chemical company.
In the first half of the year, Dow DuPont’s sales for the same period was US$45.7 billion, an increase of approximately 10% year-on-year; operating profit before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization was US$10.6 billion, an increase of approximately 15% year-on-year.
During the same period, BASF’s sales were US$38.26 billion, up 0.9% year-on-year; profit before interest and taxes was US$5.61 billion, up 3.3% year-on-year.
Dow DuPont’s performance growth in the first half of the year was due to the increase in volume in the major markets in the second quarter.
Compared with the same period of last year, Dow DuPont’s market volume increased by 10% in the second quarter, and the United States, Canada and Asia Pacific achieved double-digit growth. Among them, agricultural production increased by 20% from the previous month, and sales of materials science and specialty products increased by 10% and 4% respectively.
In the first half of the year, Dow DuPont’s product prices increased by an average of about 4%, resulting in a quarter of sales growth in the agricultural sector, a 18% increase in sales in the materials science sector, and a 10% increase in sales in the specialty products segment. .
As of the second quarter of this year, Dow DuPont’s earnings have exceeded Wall Street analysts’ expectations for four consecutive quarters.
BASF’s performance also benefited from the growth in functional materials, chemical prices and sales, but the adverse exchange rate factors associated with the US dollar affected sales in all business areas.
In the first half of the year, BASF’s oil and gas and chemicals business revenues continued to rise, but agricultural operations and functional materials showed a significant downward trend.
In August of this year, BASF will complete the acquisition of Bayer’s main business of seed and non-selective herbicides. These businesses are worth approximately $1.26 billion and will have 4,500 new employees joining BASF.
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The acquisition complements BASF’s strategic focus on existing crop protection, biotechnology and digital applications, meaning it will further expand its seed business. In addition, BASF is considering merging the oil and gas business with the business of DEA Deutsche Erdoel AG and its subsidiaries.
In addition to the above two chemical giants, most of the semi-annual chemical giants have reported sales growth of between 7% and 10%. Covestro’s sales in the first half of the year was US$8.71 billion, up 7.9% year-on-year; the profit before operating EBITDA was US$2.29 billion, up 20.9% year-on-year. The biggest reason for its business growth was that the sales volume in the first half of the year increased by 2.2% year-on-year.
Wanhua Chemical Group Co., Ltd. (600309.SH, hereinafter referred to as Wanhua Chemical) has become the biggest “dark horse” in terms of performance growth. In the first half of the year, Wanhua Chemical achieved operating income of 30.054 billion yuan (equivalent to 4.385 billion US dollars), a year-on-year increase of 23%, and achieved a net profit of 6.949 billion yuan (US$1.014 billion), a year-on-year increase of 42.9%.
Wanhua Chemical also entered the global chemical industry top 50 list (according to 2017 performance ranking), ranking 43rd. The list of the world’s top 50 chemical companies is published in July each year by the Journal of Chemistry and Engineering News of the Journal of the American Chemical. The number of Chinese chemical companies selected for this year has increased from the original two to four.
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The other three selected Chinese companies are China Petrochemical Corporation, Taiwan Formosa Plastics Group and China National Chemical Corporation (hereinafter referred to as China National Chemical Corporation). Among them, Sinochem was newly selected for the acquisition of Syngenta, which ranked 30 last year.
On June 30, Ren Jianxin, chairman of China National Chemical Corporation, announced his retirement. Ning Gaoning, chairman of Sinochem Group (hereinafter referred to as Sinochem), also served as chairman of China National Chemical Corporation. This is considered by the industry to be close to the merger of Sinochem and Sinochem. If the merger of the two major groups is successful, the combined operating income of the two parties will exceed 770 billion yuan (about 110 billion US dollars), which is expected to replace Dow DuPont as the world’s largest chemical company.