Sales dip for ICIS top chemical firms

The ICIS Top 100 Chemical Companies listing highlights the top players in the global chemical industry, ranked by sales.

In 2015, many of the ICIS Top 100 Chemical Companies posted significant sales declines on the back of lower crude oil prices. In reporting currency terms, sales fell 23.7 per cent for Sinopec, 16.1 per cent for Dow and 21.6 per cent for SABIC whereas BASF saw a 5.2 per cent decline.

"Commodity chemical companies felt the brunt of the impact of lower crude oil prices on their top lines in 2015,” said Joseph Chang, Global Editor of ICIS Chemical Business. “However, many companies demonstrated their resilience, showing lesser declines or even increases in underlying profitability.”

Over the course of calendar 2015, the average Brent crude oil price fell by 47.3 per cent. The annual average of the ICIS Petrochemical Index (IPEX), a capacity-weighted basket of prices for 12 petrochemicals and polymers, declined by 28 per cent.