{"id":8316,"date":"2021-08-09T11:28:13","date_gmt":"2021-08-09T14:28:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/?p=8316"},"modified":"2021-08-09T11:28:13","modified_gmt":"2021-08-09T14:28:13","slug":"industria-quimica-global-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/?p=8316","title":{"rendered":"Industria qu\u00edmica global 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"

BASF es la empresa qu\u00edmica con mayores ventas en 2020, seguida de Sinopec y Dow. En general, las ventas de productos qu\u00edmicos combinados disminuyeron en comparaci\u00f3n con 2019. Adem\u00e1s de la pandemia de COVID-19, la sostenibilidad (especialmente la econom\u00eda circular, los desechos pl\u00e1sticos y las emisiones de CO2) han sido temas dominantes en la industria qu\u00edmica en 2020.<\/p>\n

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The global chemical industry made it through the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic with scratches and abrasions but few broken bones.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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According to data from C&EN\u2019s Global Top 50 survey, the world\u2019s largest chemical firms posted a 7.1% decline in chemical sales from 2019, to $795.8 billion in 2020, the fiscal year on which the survey is based.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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It\u2019s not a bad result, considering that economies around the world were shut down early last year to stem the global health crisis. The 50 firms that appeared in\u00a0C&EN\u2019s previous survey<\/a>, which was mostly based on performance in prepandemic 2019, posted a 5.0% decline in chemical sales.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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And although 2020 chemical earnings fell 22.6% for the 44 of the 50 firms that disclose chemical profits, they fell more\u201428.2%\u2014in 2019 for the 46 companies disclosing profits on the list, when business in many major markets and economies was beginning to slow.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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According to the European Chemical Industry Council, a trade association, global chemical output declined by 0.1% in 2020. The industry basically ended up where it started.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Oil prices tell some of the story. Early last year, as the economy froze up and people stayed home, crude prices crashed, dragging chemical prices down with them. Petrochemical volumes, however, were relatively strong because some products, such as polyethylene, saw an uptick in demand.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Indeed, COVID-19 affected the chemical industry unevenly. For instance, chemical companies that sell materials to aerospace and automotive customers were hit hard. But suppliers of materials for food packaging and personal protective equipment saw strong sales.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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COVID-19 wasn\u2019t the only theme for the year. Another one, not reflected in the data, was sustainability. Almost all\u00a0chemical firms are focused far more on environmental performance<\/a>\u00a0than they were just a few years ago.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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For instance, more than a dozen members of the Global Top 50 have\u00a0major plastics recycling initiatives<\/a>. A similar number of companies are looking to make ammonia and hydrogen via water electrolysis rather than from natural gas. Still others are overhauling basic petrochemical processes to make them more energy efficient. Dow, Shell, Sabic, and BASF, for example, are developing ethylene crackers that run on renewable electricity.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Despite the year\u2019s volatility, the survey was marked by few changes. Companies heavily laden with petrochemical operations generally saw declines in sales and fell in the ranking. Companies that make industrial gases or agricultural chemicals tended to rise.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Three companies in the Global Top 50 a year ago didn\u2019t make it this year. Ecolab fell off the list because it divested an oil-field chemical business. SK Innovation and PTT Global Chemical were both victims of declines in petrochemical sales.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Now that it is breaking out chemical sales again, Shell rejoins the Global Top 50 this year after a 5-year hiatus. Rongsheng Petrochemical, which makes polyester chemicals, debuts this year. The former DowDuPont agricultural chemical business, Corteva Agriscience, made the cut as well.<\/p>\n

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1 BASF 2020 CHEMICAL SALES: $67.5 BILLION<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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For the second year in a row, BASF leads the Global Top 50 as the world\u2019s largest chemical maker. And because it managed, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, to avoid a big decline in sales, the German chemical company widened its sales lead over the number 2, Sinopec, from about $5 billion in 2019 to nearly $21 billion in 2020. Though BASF is an industry leader, its greenhouse gas emission goal\u2014released in 2019\u2014had been relatively modest: keep its carbon dioxide output level as it grows throughout the 2020s. This year, BASF changed course and unveiled a more ambitious target: a drop of 25% compared with 2018 emissions by the end of the decade<\/a>. Because BASF is building a major complex in China, the new goal means the firm will need to halve emissions from its current operations. BASF is working on technologies that will help it meet the ambitious target. It is testing renewable energy\u2013powered electric heaters in steam crackers, as opposed to fossil-fueled furnaces, and it plans to use electrolysis to generate hydrogen. The German company trimmed its portfolio recently. In June, it completed the sale of its pigment business to Japan\u2019s DIC for $1.4 billion. And BASF and Clayton, Dubilier & Rice are selling their Solenis water treatment chemical joint venture to the private equity firm Platinum Equity in a deal valued at $5.25 billion.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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BASF engineers work on a test facility in Ludwigshafen, Germany, that produces hydrogen without CO2 emissions.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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2 SINOPEC 2020 CHEMICAL SALES:\u00a0$46.7 BILLION<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Being China\u2019s largest chemical maker, Sinopec was hit by the COVID-19 pandemic before most of the world\u2019s other large chemical companies. Indeed, the company saw a 24% decline in chemical revenues last year. It also experienced a 38% slump in operating profit. Despite the setback, Sinopec is focused on long-term growth and has a more ambitious capital expansion program than most large chemical companies. For instance, Sinopec will complete construction of new ethylene cracker complexes this year and in the next 2 years in Zhenhai, Hainan, and Tianjin, China. Additionally, it will begin construction next year on a large propane dehydrogenation plant in Zhenhai that it hopes to finish in 2025.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

3\u00a0 DOW 2020 CHEMICAL SALES:\u00a0$38.5 BILLION<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Tightening its belt in the face of the COVID pandemic, Dow launched a cost-cutting program last July. The firm said it was reducing its workforce by 6%\u2014about 2,200 jobs\u2014in an effort to save more than $300 million annually by the end of 2021. The program is also hitting manufacturing: the company is shutting down amine and solvent plants in the US and Europe and closing small polyurethane plants and coatings reactors. Dow also divested terminal and rail assets in 2020. Amid the cuts, the company is making investments. For example, Dow plans to build a $250 million specialty chemical plant in Zhanjiang, China. Initially, the plan will focus on new specialty polyurethane and alkoxylate facilities. Dow says it may launch additional projects at the site in the future.<\/p>\n

4 INEOS 2020 CHEMICAL SALES: $31.3 BILLION<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
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The British chemical maker Ineos reunited most of the old BP Chemicals in January when it completed its $5 billion purchase of BP\u2019s aromatics business. The business, which generated sales of about $3.6 billion in 2020, is one of the world\u2019s largest producers of purified terephthalic acid, a polyethylene terephthalate raw material. The business is also a large acetic acid producer. It will join BP\u2019s former olefin and polyolefin business, which Ineos acquired in 2005 for $9 billion. In a smaller purchase last year, Ineos bought out its partner Sasol\u2019s 50% interest in Gemini HDPE, a high-density polyethylene joint venture in La Porte, Texas. The partners completed the plant, housed at an Ineos site, in 2017. When it isn\u2019t making acquisitions, Ineos is investing in sustainability. At its Rafnes site in Norway, the firm is installing a 20 MW electrolyzer to make hydrogen from water. And its Ineos Styrolution unit is planning a plant in France that will depolymerize polystyrene into its raw material, styrene.<\/div>\n
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5 <\/strong>SABIC <\/strong>2020 CHEMICAL SALES:\u00a0$28.8 BILLION<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Saudi Arabia\u2019s state oil company, Saudi Aramco, completed its purchase of a 70% stake in the petrochemical maker Sabic in June 2020. The purchase was meant to diversify Aramco, which today depends heavily on oil and gas. But soon after the deal closed, the firms announced they were reevaluating the scope of a planned complex that was to convert 400,000 barrels per day of crude oil into 9 million metric tons (t) per year of petrochemicals. Their new, more modest plan is to build an ethylene cracker and derivatives units that will be integrated with existing Aramco refineries. In another instance of Sabic and Aramco working together, the companies shipped 40 t of ammonia to a power plant in Japan last September. The ammonia is considered \u201cblue\u201d because carbon dioxide emitted during its manufacture was captured and used for enhanced oil recovery and methanol production in Saudi Arabia. In another strategic move, Sabic carved out a stand-alone business that includes its polyphenylene oxide, polyetherimide, and compounding units. The company got the businesses with its purchase of GE Plastics in 2007. Sabic had sought to combine them with Clariant\u2019s masterbatch business, but those talks broke down in 2019.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Sabic’s innovation center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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6 FORMOSA PLASTICS 2020 CHEMICAL SALES: $27.7 BILLION<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The $9.4 billion petrochemical complex that Formosa Plastics is planning in St. James Parish, Louisiana, is in hot water. It faces fierce opposition both locally from community organizations worried about pollution and nationally from environmental groups that wish to stop the mounting production of plastics. Sharon Lavigne, head of the local group Rise St. James, recently received the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize for her efforts, a sign that the Formosa project has high-profile opposition. The project also faces practical hurdles. Notably, the US Army Corps of Engineers suspended a permit for the facility in November. Formosa Plastics had better luck in Point Comfort, Texas, where it started up an ethylene cracker and low-density polyethylene unit last year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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7 LG CHEM 2020 CHEMICAL SALES: $25.5 BILLION<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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LG Chem and another South Korean firm, SK Innovation, settled a battery technology dispute in April that threatened to snarl US production of electric vehicles. LG had accused SK of trade secret theft and will now get a $1.8 billion cash payment and future royalties. SK nearly abandoned plans to produce batteries in Georgia over the conflict. The settlement was important enough that US president Joe Biden weighed in, noting in a statement<\/a>\u00a0that the US needs \u201ca strong, diversified and resilient U.S.-based electric vehicle battery supply chain.\u201d In other news related to batteries, LG announced in April that it had more than tripled its capacity in Yeosu, South Korea, to make carbon nanotubes, used as a conductive additive.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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M\u00e1s informaci\u00f3n -> https:\/\/cen.acs.org\/business\/finance\/CENs-Global-Top-50-2021\/99\/i27<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Fuente:<\/strong> https:\/\/cen.acs.org<\/em><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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