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According to C&EN’s latest Global Top 50 survey, the world’s 50 largest chemical manufacturer, in aggregate, posted sales of $1.1 trillion in 2021, the fiscal year that forms the basis of the ranking. That’s a 38% increase over the combined total for the same 50 firms in 2020.

Profits more than kept up. chemical manufacturer operating income for the 41 firms that break out such numbers jumped 148% in 2021, hitting $127 billion.

There are two big reasons for the spike in chemical manufacturer sales and earnings in 2021. First, the world’s economy sagged in 2020 on account of the COVID-19 pandemic. This downturn hit the chemical manufacturer, albeit not as severely as it did industries like aerospace and automotive. The 50 firms that appeared a year ago in C&EN’s survey posted a 7% decline in sales. And they posted earnings declines for the second year in a row. With the world economy recovering in 2021, it stands to reason that chemical sales recovered as well.

Also related to the spike is inflation, the likes of which some countries around the world haven’t seen in decades. According to the Energy Information Administration, the US benchmark oil price rose from $47.07 per barrel in December 2020 to $71.69 a year later.

The chemical manufacturer, most of which relies on oil as a raw material, responded by raising prices in kind. According to LyondellBasell Industries, US and European ethylene prices increased by 35% and 60%, respectively, in 2021, while polyethylene prices rose about 45%. Prices for ammonia more than doubled.

Thus, the healthiest sales increases seen in the Global Top 50 came from chemical manufacturer. Sabic, Formosa Plastics, PetroChina, LyondellBasell Industries, and chemical manufacturer all clocked in with sales increases of 40% or more. Also riding the crest of the commodity price wave are fertilizer makers such as Yara, Nutrien, and Mosaic, which posted astounding increases in sales.

Some chemical manufacturer have been ditching commodities to focus on specialties. LyondellBasell Industries is exiting refining so it can better home in on commodities. In April, the company said it would shutter its 100-year-old Houston refinery by the end of 2023. The refinery, part of LyondellBasell Industries since it spun off from Atlantic Richfield in 1989, has long been an issue for the company.