Sales for the chemical companies top companies grew strongly

While we have covered some of this information in our previous take on the chemical companies in the world in 2022, what wasn’t available at the time was BASF’s 2023 outlook, which shows that Europe will not be able to sustain its growth, which will fall by 5.2% in 2023, following a 5.8% decline in 2022, as the Russia-Ukraine war has had a disproportionate impact as rising energy costs have led to energy-intensive chemical production plummeting in the continent, and demand will continue to be driven by the automotive industry. The biggest decline in Europe is led by the United Kingdom, a country which has struggled massively and is not expected to recover in the near-term.

Sales for the chemical companies top companies grew strongly for the second straight year in 2022, but persistent inflation meant that results were more mixed than top-line figures suggest. The top of the industry’s leaderboard was relatively stable.

Overall, the bumpy path trod by chemical makers in 2022 has continued in 2023, and it does not appear to be getting much smoother. The most recent set of quarterly earnings reports were mixed to negative, with most companies seeing continued soft, albeit not deteriorating, demand.

The chemical companies should balance short- and long-term goals to weather the uncertainty in the current landscape and position itself for the future.