ICIS Chemical Business Reveals Top 100 Chemical Companies

NEW YORK and LONDON, September 13, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- ICIS Chemical Business magazine has revealed the ICIS Top 100 Chemical Companies, sponsored by leading global logistics provider Damco, with rankings based on 2009 sales.

"The global chemical industry was hit hard in 2009 as the financial and economic crisis slammed confidence and business froze in the early part of the year. But many companies have since managed to climb out of the depths in solid shape," said Joseph Chang, Global Editor of ICIS Chemical Business.

"The recovery in demand and in chemicals output has persisted into 2010 with the year's second quarter marking what many see as a high point," noted Nigel Davis, ICIS Insight Editor.

In 2009, German major BASF once again came out on top with $72.7bn in sales, followed by US-based Dow Chemical with $44.9bn and then US-based ExxonMobil Chemical with $41.0bn.

For the ICIS Top 100 Chemical Companies, aggregate sales declined by 19.7% in US dollars in 2009. Total profits of the Top 100 fell 17.5% in US dollars.

Looking ahead to the ICIS Top 100 Chemical Companies listing in 2010, companies will post significant sales and profit gains as demand has rebounded.

"The questions being asked now have more to do with the sustainability of growth in a much-changed financial world rather than business survival," said Davis.

"China's demand continues to provide the key to volumes but recovery in North America, Japan and Europe has yet to help drive output and capacity utilization to the levels reached before the recession," he added.

The ICIS Top 100 Chemical Companies table was compiled by Lara McNamee and the ICIS data & analytics team led by Paul Ray.

A PDF of the ICIS Top 100 Chemical Companies is available for download at http://www.icis.com/Top100

ICIS Chemical Business

ICIS Chemical Business is the leading global weekly magazine focusing on upstream, bulk commodity chemical and polymer markets. Subscribe today at http://www.icis.com/1395

ICIS

ICIS is the trusted information provider for the chemical and energy industries. ICIS aims to help companies in global commodity markets improve their revenues and profits by providing high quality, timely, commercially useful information, business leads and brand positioning across the globe. To find out more, visit http://www.icis.com

Reed Business Information

ICIS is part of Reed Business Information, http://www.reedbusiness.co.uk/ , (RBI), a division of Reed Business and a member of Reed Elsevier plc (525), (UK:REL) (US:RUK) (NL:45443) the world's leading publisher and information provider. RBI publishes over 100 market leading publications, directories and online services, and organises many industry conferences and awards. The RBI portfolio includes Banker's Almanac, Computer Weekly, Farmers Weekly, Flight International, ICIS, Kellysearch, New Scientist, Personnel Today, Totaljobs and XpertHR. For a full listing visit http://www.reedbusiness.co.uk

Damco

As part of the A.P. Moller-Maersk Group, Damco offers a broad range of supply chain management and freight forwarding services to customers all over the world, and has 10,500 employees in over 280 owned offices across 90 countries with representation in 120 countries in Africa, Asia, Australia, North America, Europe, Middle East, and Latin America.

    http://www.damco.com

    For media inquiries, contact:

    Joseph Chang
    Global Editor
    ICIS Chemical Business
    T: +1-212-791-4224
    [email protected]

    http://www.icis.com/magazine
    http://www.icis.com

    Nigel Davis
    ICIS Insight Editor
    T: +44-20-8652-3397
    [email protected]

    Lara McNamee
    Intelligence Editor
    ICIS Data & Analytics
    T: +44-20-8652-8358
    [email protected]

    Anthony Elwine
    Industry Head - Chemicals
    Middle East Region
    Damco
    Dubai
    United Arab Emirates
    T: +971-4-5086-207
    [email protected]

    http://www.damco.com

SOURCE ICIS Chemical Business