2021 global list of leading chemical companies based on revenue

The German chemical company BASF was ranked number one in the ranking of the world's leading chemical companies based on revenue in 2021, generating a revenue of approximately 75.5 billion U.S. dollars (as of the end of fiscal year 2020). Follow this link to get access to the top 300 chemical companies list.

Revenue of the top chemical companies worldwide

Chemical companies produce and develop industrial chemicals through the conversion of raw materials –organic and inorganic- into a wide variety of products. Chemical production is classified into two separate categories. There are specialty batch manufacturers that produce more expensive chemicals that are less commonly used within the chemical market. These performance chemicals are often produced by smaller manufacturers. On the other hand, commodity manufacturers tend to produce a large volume of basic and inexpensive compounds. The production of organic polymers for plastics, fibers, and elastomers are a rapidly growing sector of the chemical industry.

Leading chemical manufacturing countries

The chemical manufacturing industry in the United States is quite prominent, with companies such as Dow, DuPont, and LyondellBasell Industries. The chemical sector in Europe is also very prominent, as demonstrated by the fact that represents a great proportion of their manufacturing trade surplus. Europe (and the European Union) is one of the largest chemical trading regions in the world. With Germany accounting for the largest share of total EU chemical revenue. Three of Germany’s chemical companies are considered some of the largest in the world. German companies BASF and Bayer are consistently among the largest earning chemical companies in the world. BASF operates on a global scale and maintains its segmental operations in chemicals, materials, surface technologies, nutrition and care, industrial solutions, and agricultural solutions. With headquarters around the world, Bayer is known for marketing heroin in the past and branding aspirin.