Billion-Dollar Club

Emerging Asia and Mideast players continue to break through and reshape industry, as CW’s latest Billion-Dollar Club Ranking demonstrates (p. 21).

New industry giants in high-growth economies have leapfrogged U.S., European, and Japanese companies. Sabic (Saudi Arabia) and Sinopec (China) are now entrenched top-five players (table). Neither company was in the top 25 ten years ago. Other companies that have cracked the top 25 in recent years include IPIC (United Arab Emirates), Reliance Industries (India), and Braskem (Brazil).

BASF, with chemicals revenue of $72 billion, maintains the overall top spot for a sixth straight year, nearly $7 billion ahead of ExxonMobil. Sabic is now number three, and Dow Chemical takes the fourth spot.

The median revenue gain in dollar terms for all companies in the ranking was 12%. Last year was uneven, but companies now likely look on it quite fondly given the weakness seen since the second quarter. Industry seems likely to fall short of the strong gains in 2011 due to the recession in Europe and deceleration in China. BASF recently cut its 2012 global chemical production growth forecast to 3.5%, from the 4.1% rate it expected earlier in the year. Industry should see year-over-year growth in 2012, with the notable exception of Western Europe, but gains are clearly moderating from the strong advances of 2010 and 2011.