Special Report
C&EN's Top
Weak demand in such key outlets as automobiles, housing, and appliances, coupled with an easing in some major overseas markets, undercut chemical operations in the U.S. last year. The result shows up clearly in the following pages of C&EN's annual Top 50 compilation of the industrial chemicals produced in greatest volume in the U.S. and the U.S. companies with the largest dollar volume of worldwide chemical sales. Total pounds of output of the Top 50 chemicals declined—almost 4%—for only the second time since C&EN began ranking these products in 1969. Organic chemicals among the Top 50 products were especially hard hit, collectively declining about 8% in production volume. All in all, only 10 of the 50 big-volume chemicals managed to rack up a higher poundage last year, with eight of these being inorganic chemicals. And the increases generally were moderate at best, with only two higher than 10%. For the organic products, lower output reflects to a large extent lower production for practically all the major plastics,
50 Chemical Products & Producers synthetic fibers, and synthetic rubbers; the inorganics were buoyed by good demand, both in the U.S. and overseas, for fertilizer chemicals. On the other hand, worldwide sales of chemicals increased for all but a handful of the Top 50 U.S. producers. For the group as a whole, dollar volume of chemicals hit $100 billion as price increases averaging about 20% above the year before more than
compensated for reduced output. But the 11% increase in sales was less than half what the 50 firms had rung up the year before. Companies with a big stake in fertilizers turned in a particularly strong performance, thanks both to improved prices and strong markets. Last year, all of the companies ranked among the Top 50 had chemical sales of more than $600 million, and nearly three quarters of them moved more than $1 billion worth of chemicals into the marketplace. Du Pont, meanwhile, became the first U.S. company to ring up more than $10 billion in chemical volume. This year sales undoubtedly will rise again. Higher selling prices will again get much of the credit. Even though worldwide demand for chemicals remains sluggish, U.S. production is not likely to slump any time this year as it did during the first half of 1980. Consequently, although growth will be less than spectacular—and may, in fact, not even carry production back to 1979 levels—it's a safe bet that the year's totals will be higher than those of 1980.
May 4, 1981 C&EN
35
Top 50
Output of big-volume chemicals fell in 1980 William J. Storck C&EN, New York
There was nothing to cheer about in terms of volume output in the U.S. chemical industry last year. Yes, sales of U.S. chemical companies increased. Yes, earnings were up moderately. But physical volume of the basic chemicals and the downstream polymers is another story. They both fell. In fact, if it hadn't been for inflation, exports, and some tightening of operations, things might have been much worse on the financial front as well. The drop in output last year ended a half-decade climb for production of basic chemicals in the U.S. The last time that total production fell for the 50 largest-volume chemicals was in 1975 when output dropped 9.0%. Last year producers were somewhat luckier, if you can call any drop lucky—as output fell just 3.6%. Largely preliminary figures show that production of the 50 largest-
C&EN's Top
50 Chemical Products
volume chemicals last year was 543 billion lb, compared with a revised 563 billion lb produced in 1979. It is important to keep in mind that the 1980 results are largely preliminary and probably will change when final figures eventually are published by the government. When C&EN's list was published in 1980, the prelimi-
nary figures showed that production had risen 7.6% to 565 billion lb from 1978 figures. However, when revised production figures were published by the government, output in 1979 came to 563 billion lb, a 7.2% increase over the year before. Just as last year, the change in production was led by the organic chemicals. While production of the Top 50 chemical products was falling 3.6% in 1980, production of organics on the list fell 8.2% to 174 billion lb from 1979. Inorganic chemicals production dropped just 1.3% to 369 billion lb. There had been indications almost all year that chemical production would fall in 1980. The main one was the Index of Industrial Production published by the Federal Reserve Board. The average seasonally adjusted index for the broad category chemicals and allied products was 206.7 (1967 = 100) for 1980, a 1.8% drop from 1979. For basic chemical production, the seasonally adjusted
About the Top 50 list of chemical products Government data, trade association figures, industry estimates. All of these go into preparing C&EN's annual list of the Top 50 chemical products, ranked by production volume. The federal government is relied upon most heavily, but when government figures are not available, other sources, primarily trade associations, are used. Industry sources and C&EN estimates are used only when other data are lacking or incomplete. Government data are not always accurate—they are only as good as the information that individual companies report. But they are an objective measure of production extending back for many years. Therefore, relatively accurate indications of growth can be made on a consistent basis. At this time of year, C&EN has access only to preliminary reports of production for 1980. When the government and trade associations issue their final reports, the outcome can be changed, sometimes dramatically. As a result, production figures for 1979 that appear in the table on page 37 may be different from those published at this time last
36
C&EN May 4, 1981
year. The final reports also can affect the rankings of chemicals. The 1979 rankings of 13 of the chemicals listed in the table on page 37, for example, are different from those in the similar table published by C&EN a year ago. The list itself covers production figures for the U.S., and includes chemicals produced for export. Candidates for the list include all basic, intermediate, chemically homogeneous finished products. These range from chemical building blocks such as ethylene and propylene to finished products such as vinyl acetate and ethylene glycol. The roster also includes basic inorganic chemicals, but does not include what C&EN considers to be minerals, such as salt, potash, gypsum, and sulfur. Lime is included because it is processed and has many chemical and industrial applications. Refractory (dead-burned) dolomite is excluded in the calculations of lime production. In the organics, such petrochemical feedstocks as ethane, butane, and propane are excluded arbitrarily, because they are considered to be products of oil
companies and because they have many nonchemical uses. There are other gray areas besides lime and petrochemical feedstocks. For example, the basic aromatics—benzene, toluene, and xylene—are included. Admittedly, this makes the list less pure chemically. Mixed xylenes are on the list. So is the para isomer of xylene. If production volume had warranted, the ortho isomer also would be included. Production figures are published by the government and trade associations in a variety of units—millions of pounds, thousands of tons, billions of cubic feet, millions of gallons, metric tons. To provide an accurate ranking and to make comparison of production volumes easier, C&EN not only gives production in common units but converts production to billions of pounds. The Top 50 list, in addition to listing production figures for the past two years, indicates growth rates for the past year, the previous year, the past five years, and the past 10 years, giving the reader a historical perspective on growth for each chemical.
Organic chemicals led Top 50 to 3.6% production decline in 1980 Production *·"•< 1980
1 2 3 4 5
Billions of lb 1980 1979
1979 a
1 3 2 4 5
Common unite 0 1979 1980
1979-80
Sulfuric acid Ammonia Limec Oxygen Nitrogen
80.69 37.98 35.36 34.35 34.20
83.98 36.24 38.78 35.35 29.93
40,343 tt 18,988 tt 17,681 tt 415 bcf 472 bcf
41,988 tt 18,121 tt 19,392 tt 427 bcf 413 bcf
-3.9% 4.8 -8.8 -2.8 14.3
Average annual change 1975-80 1978-79
1970-90
-0.2 5.4
4.5% 3.0 -0.5 3.3 13.3
3.2% 3.2 -0.8 3.9 12.1
2.2% 5.4
—
7 8 9 10
6 7 8 9 12
27.54 22.62 22.38 21.71 17.17
29.90 24.78 24.22 20.27 15.60
27,544 mp 11,310 tt 11,190 tt 10,857 tt 8,586 tt
29,904 mp 12,392 tt 12,108 tt 10,135 tt 7,800 tt
-7.9 -8.7 -7.6 7.1 10.1
15.2 15.7 9.6 8.3 8.2
(ΓΪ
7Ϊ
Sodium hydroxide Chlorine Phosphoric acid Ammonium nitrated
3.4 4.2 7.2 3.9
1.1 1.4 6.7 2.9
11 12 13 14 15
10 11 14 13 16
Nitric acid Sodium carbonate6 Urea' Propylene Toluene8
17.09 16.55 14.34 13.71 11.27
17.13 16.51 13.53 14.20 11.86
8,544 tt 8,275 tt 14,335 mp 13,711 mp 1,555 mg
8,564 tt 8,253 tt 13,534 mp 14,198 mp 1,636 mg
-0.2 0.3 5.9 -3.4 -5.0
7.9 -0.4 24.3 9.1 55.2
2.6 3.0 15.3 9.5 17.1
1.2 1.6 8.2 7.5 6.5
16 17 18 19 20
15 17 18 21 20
Ethylene dichloride Ethylbenzene Carbon dioxideh Methanol
10.98 9.97 7.61 7.09 7.00
12.29 11.79 8.45 7.07 7.37
1,495 mg 9,974 mp 7,609 mp 3,543 tt 7,002 mp
1,672 mg -10.6 11,794 mp -15.4 -9.9 8,448 mp 0.3 3,533 tt 7,367 mp -5.0
12.4 7.2 0.8 11.1 14.3
7.8 4.6 9.5 13.9 6.2
2.8 2.9 4.7 12.1 3.6
21 22 23 24 25
19 23 22 24 25
Styrene Vinyl chloride Xylenes Terephthalic acid' Formaldehyde'
6.90 6.46 6.40 5.92 5.77
7.48 6.39 6.89 6.16 5.97
6,897 mp 6,458 mp 883 mg 5,924 mp 5,768 mp
7,484 mp 6,388 mp 950 mg 6,159 mg 5,971 mp
-7.8 1.1 -7.1 -3.8 -3.4
4.1 -8.0 12.4 3.4 -6.4
8.1 9.0 6.7 5.3 4.8
4.8 4.8 5.1 11.9 2.7
26 27 28 29 30
26 27 28 30 29
Hydrochloric acid Ethylene oxide Ethylene glycol Ammonium sulfate p-Xylene
5.50 4.95 4.24 3.92 3.83
5.95 5.67 4.73 3.94 4.65
2,750 tt 4,951 mp 4,243 mp 1,958 tt 3,829 mp
-7.5 2,973 tt 5,665 mp -12.6 4,729 mp -10.3 -0.7 1,971 tt 4,650 mp -17.7
6.6 13.0 21.2 1.4 32.3
6.5 2.1 2.2 -1.5 9.1
3.2 2.6 3.4 0.3 9.2
31 32 33 34 35
31 32 34 33 39
Cumene Butadienek Acetic acid Carbon black Sodium sulfate1
3.16 2.89 2.82 2.55 2.51
3.92 3.58 3.27 3.33 2.35
3,161 2,894 2,817 2,546 1,257
3,917 mp 3,583 mp 3,265 mp 3,329 mp 1,173 tt
-19.3 -19.2 -13.7 -23.5 7.2
15.9 1.9 17.7 -0.5 0.4
9.5 2.2 5.1 -1.6 0.5
4.8 -0.7 3.8 -1.4 -0.9
36 37 38 39 40
35 37 36 38 43
Phenor Aluminum sulfate Acetone Cyclohexane Calcium chloride"
2.46 2.36 2.12 1.97 1.97
2.98 2.46 2.65 2.43 1.96
2,463 mp 1,182 tt 2,123 mp 1,967 mp 983 tt
2,981 mp -17.4 -4.1 1,232 tt 2,653 mp -20.0 2,425 mp -18.9 0.2 981 tt
11.1 -5.9 5.3 4.0 -4.8
7.2 0.7 5.3 2.6 -3.7
3.7 -0.1 2.8 0.7 -1.2
41 42 43 44 45
42 41 44 40 46
Vinyl acetate Acrylonitrile Isopropyl alcohol Propylene oxide Sodium silicate
1.92 1.83 1.79 1.77 1.48
1.98 2.02 1.90 2.25 1.55
1,918 mp 1,830 mp 1,788 mp 1,767 mp 740 tt
1,982 2,018 1,900 2,249 777
mp -3.2 -9.3 mp -5.9 mp mp -21.4 -4.8 tt
17.1 15.2 9.8 9.9 -2.4
8.2 8.5 3.3 3.0 0.4
9.1 5.8 -0.7 4.2 1.6
46 47 48 49 50
48 47 49 50 45
Acetic anhydride Sodium tripolyphosphate Titanium dioxide Ethanor Adipic acid
1.47 1.44 1.43 1.22 1.20
1.51 1.51 1.48 1.41 1.80
1,468 mp 719 tt 715 tt 1,224 mp 1,200 mp
-2.5 1,505 mp -4.9 756 tt -3.5 741 tt 1,408 mp - 1 3 . 1 1,800 mp -33.3
0.3 2.3 5.7 11.1 11.0
0.6 -1.4 3.4 -3.0 -2.2
-0.8 -5.1 0.9 -4.6 1.0
369.35 173.51 542.86
374.39 189.03 563.42
""β
TOTAL INORGANICS IN TOP 50 TOTAL ORGANICS IN TOP 50 GRAND TOTAL OF TOP 50
mp mp mp mp tt
-1.3% -8.2% -3.6%
4.2% 13.8% 7.2%
4.0% 7.1% 5.0%
2.9% 4.5% 3.3%
a Revised, b tt = thousands of tons, bcf = billions of cubic feet, mp = millions of pounds, mg = millions of gallons, c Except refractory dolomite, d Original solution. · Synthetic and natural. f Primary solution, g All grades, h All forms. I Includes both acid and ester without double counting. J 37% by weight, k Rubber grade. I High and low purity, m Synthetic only, η Solid and liquid. Sources: Bureau of the Census. Bureau of Mines. International Trade Commission, C&EN estimates
May 4, 1981 C&EN
37
Top 50 Polymers were especially hard hit in 1980 Billions of lb 1980
1980
1979
1978
1975
1970
4.09 1.50 0.95 1.17 0.32 0.17
4,094 1,499 947 1,165 315 167
4,857 1,781 1,147 1,367 361 200
4,488 1,617 1,209 1,122 299 202
2,888 1,052 833 690 198 115
2,666 1,186 569 746 165 a
Thermoplastic resins Low-density polyethylene Polyvinyl chloride and copolymers Polystyrene and copolymers High-density polyethylene Polypropylene and copolymers TOTALb
25.37 7.29 5.47 4.55 4.41 3.65 29.46
25,367 7,291 5,470 4,553 4,405 3,648 29,461
28,083 7,793 6,119 5,320 5,010 3,841 32,940
25,186 7,111 5,723 5,077 4,201 3.074 29,674
16,729 4,740 3,636 4,005 2,446 1,902 19,617
13,540 4,458 3,115 3,550 1,604 1,031 16,206
-9.7% -6.4 -10.6 -14.4 -12.1 -5.0 -10.6%
11.5% 9.6 6.9 4.8 19.3 25.0 11.0%
SYNTHETIC FIBERS (millions of lb) Cellulosics Rayon Acetate
0.81 0.49 0.32
806 490 316
930 606 324
905 597 308
749 436 313
1,373 875 498
-13.3% -19.1 -2.5
2.8% 1.5 5.2
1.5% -5.2% 2.4 -5.6 0.2 -4.5
8.74 3.99 2.36 0.87 0.78 0.75 9.55
8,741 3,989 2,358 867 779 748 9,547
9,433 4,178 2,721 1,014 761 759 10,363
8,696 3,800 2,550 923 726 692 9,601
6,421 2,995 1,857 547 525 497 7,170
4,053 1,477 1,355 467 492 262 5,426
-7.3% -4.5 -13.3 -14.5 2.4 -1.4 -7.9%
8.5% 9.9 6.7 9.9 4.8 9.7 7.9%
6.4% 5.9 4.9 9.7 8.2 8.5 5.9%
2.37 0.69 0.33 0.32 0.14 0.59 4.43
1,074 311 151 144 63 266 2,009
1,378 397 183 175 75 319 2,527
1,395 377 161 174 73 292 2,472
1,179 290 144 84 55 188 1,940
1.332 284
-22.1% -1.2% -21.7 5.3 -17.5 13.7 -17.7 0.6 -16.0 2.7 -16.6 9.2 -20.5% 2.2%
PLASTICS (millions of lb) Thermosetting resins Phenolic and other tar acid resins Polyesters (unsaturated) Urea resins Epoxies (unmodified) Melamine resins
Noncellulosics Polyester0 Nylon Glass fiber Acrylicd Olefine TOTALb
SYNTHETIC RUBBER (thousands of metric tons) Styrene-butadienef Polybutadiene Neoprene Ethylene-propylene Nitrile Other*1 TOTAL6
Average annual growth
Common un»s units common
9 68 64 9 2,197
1979-80
1978-79
-15.7% 8.2% -15.8 10.1 •17.4 -5.1 -14.8 21.8 -12.7 20.7 -16.5 -1.0
1975-80 1970-80
7.2% 7.3 2.6 11.0 9.7 7.8
4.4% 2.4 5.2 4.6 6.6 a
8.7% 9.0 4.2 2.6 12.5 13.9 8.5%
6.5% 5.0 5.8 2.5 10.6 13.5 6.2%
8.0% 10.5 5.7 6.4 4.7 11.1 5.8%
-1.8% - 2 . 1 % 0.9 1.4 0.9 g 11.4 7.8 2.7 -0.2 2.7 g 0.7% - 0 . 9 %
a Data on melamine and urea are combined for 1970. b Totals are for those products listed. Totals may not add because of rounding c Includes small amounts ot anidex. saran, spandex. vinyon. and TFE-fluorocarbon yarn and monofilament, d Includes modacrylic e Includes vinyon staple and tow. f Excludes high-styrene latex, g Data for neoprene and other" are combined for 1970. h Includes butyl, polyisoprene, chlorosulfonated polyethylene, polyisobutylene. acrylic, fluoro. polysulfide. and silicone elastomers Sources: Society of the Plastics Industry, Textile Economics Bureau, Rubber Manufacturers Association
index was 187.9 in 1980, off 1.6% from 1979. Both the chemicals and allied products and the basic chemicals indexes fared worse than the index for nondurable manufacturing, the broader classification to which they belong. The production index for nondurable manufacturing dropped 1.3% in 1980 to 161.1. The drop in production last year was indeed broad. Of the 50 chemical products on the list, output fell for 40 of them. In 1979, only eight of the chemicals were produced in smaller volume than during the year before. The breadth of the drop in output last 38
C&ENMay4, 1981
year is almost as bad as in the recession of 1975, when it decreased for 42 chemicals then on the list. The good year for fertilizer use in the U.S. and exports of fertilizer materials helped keep the results from falling any more than they did. Of the 10 chemicals whose output increased in 1980, four—ammonia, phosphoric acid, ammonium nitrate, and urea— are tied to fertilizer. In fact, the increase for ammonium nitrate of 10.1% represented the second best growth on the list. The greatest output increase was shown by the industrial gas nitrogen, up 14.1% from 1979 to 472 billion cu ft.
In fact, nitrogen and ammonium nitrate were the only chemicals in 1980 to register gains of more than 10%. In 1979, 17 of the 50 chemicals had gains of more than 10%. Actually, the situation in 1980 is almost the reverse of 1979. Whereas production of 17 chemicals increased in 1979 more than 10% over 1978, in 1980 15 chemicals had declines of more than 10% from 1979 levels. And in 1979 there were no decreases of more than 10%; in 1980 only two chemicals increased more than 10%. A full 31 of the chemicals changed their rank in 1980 from what they had been in 1979. Sixteen of the chemicals
Production of basic chemicals fell for first time since 1975. Billions of lb 600
% annual change 15
500
10
Top 50 400
I
Orga nies irιΤορί iO 300
...j
1
j 200 Inorcjanics inTof >50 -5
100
0 1970
J
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
III D Organics in Top 50 D Inorganics in Top 50 • Total Top 50
H
-10
80
1979-80
1978-79
1975-80
1970-80
... depressed by 11% decrease in polymer production % annual change 20
Billions of lb 50 Synthetic rubber ^^^
\ ^ ^
Total
40
10
30
! Synthetic fibers
20
-10 h
. I
I
1970
• Total
-20
0
ι
Π Plastics D Synthetic fibers Π Synthetic rubber
Pla sties 10
Ι
-30 71
72
73
74
75
76
moved up the list while 15 moved down. However, many of the chemi cals that moved up in rank did so not because their production increased but because production of chemicals close to them decreased more than their own. Nine of the 16 chemicals that moved up in rank posted pro duction decreases. The biggest drop in rank was for adipic acid, which fell to 50th place in 1980 from 45th in 1979. Adipic acid also had the greatest decline in pro duction in 1980, 33.3%. The largest increase in rank was for sodium sul fate, which moved up four places to 35th in 1980 from 39th in 1979.
77
78
79
80
j
1979-80
Organic chemicals, of which there are more on the list than inorganics, led in both number of declines in rank and in number of declines in pro duction. Of the 15 chemical products that moved down on the list, 11 were organic chemicals. And of the 40 products whose production declined, 27 were organics. This represents 93% of the 29 organic chemicals in the Top 50. Production of 13 inorganic chemicals, or 62% of the inorganics listed, decreased. It is easy to see why the organic chemicals moved down more rapidly in 1980 when one looks at production of downstream polymers. Of all the
1978-79
1975-80
1970-80
polymers surveyed by C&EN—plas tics, fibers, and rubber—only one, acrylic fiber, increased in production in 1980, and that was just 2.4% over 1979 levels. Synthetic rubber was the big loser in 1980 among the polymers. Pro duction was off 20.5% to 4.43 billion lb from 1979. Plastics, the largestvolume downstream group, followed with an output decline of 10.6% to 29.46 billion lb. Long-suffering synthetic fibers had the best performance among the polymers, but it was still bad. Fibers output in 1980 dropped 7.9% to 9.55 billion lb from 1979. Π May 4, 1981 C&EN
39
Top 50
Top 50 boost chemical sales to $100 billion Minerals, CF Industries, and Farmland Industries bolstered sales 20% or more. Fertilizer business also helped boost the chemical sales of companies The track of last year's recession is like Occidental Petroleum (its sales of apparent in the operating results of agricultural products leaped 44% in the leading U.S. producers of chemi1980), U.S. Steel, Union Oil, and cals. For C&EN's Top 50 groupMobil at a better-than-average clip. companies ranked by their total worldwide sales of chemicals rather Meanwhile, a handful of companies than by their sales of all types of turned in sales of chemicals in 1980 products—the value of chemicals that were less than they had had in moved into the marketplace generally 1979. The greatest drop—that for increased last year. The 50 companies BASF Wyandotte—reflects the sale as a whole, for example, sold $100 or shutdown of several business lines billion worth of chemicals during the during the year; Wyandotte's sales Chemical Producers year, an increase of 11% from 1979. from continuing operations actually were up 4% during the year. Similarly, But last year's gain comes nowhere National Distillers' lower sales result near to matching the 25% increase these companies racked up during Even though the sales gains gen- from the elimination of its European 1979. And such improvements as the erally were relatively modest, the Top polyethylene business, which had companies did make most often 50 are noticeably a financially heftier brought in $62 million of sales before stemmed from higher selling prices lot than before. Du Pont, for one, be- it was sold off in 1979. PPG Indusrather than increased physical vol- came the first U.S. company to push tries' chemical sales were undercut, in ume. As raw material and energy its total worldwide chemical volume part, by its withdrawal in 1979 from costs continued to escalate sharply, past the $10 billion mark. Now, too, the chrome chemicals and antifreeze prices of key industrial chemicals, 36 producers have chemical sales of markets, which had provided reveplastics, fibers, and agricultural more than $1 billion, compared to 32 nues of about $40 million that year. chemicals averaged about 20% higher in 1979 and only 13 five years earlier. Goodrich's plastics business was aflast year than in 1979, with most of And all the companies have sales of fected adversely by weak demand the increase occurring during the more than $600 million. In 1979, three from its important construction and year's first half. On the other hand, companies with sales below that level automobile markets. output of most of the commodity were included among the group. In categorizing "chemical" sales, chemicals trailed the previous year. Several other companies have C&EN includes industrial chemicals, For all basic chemicals and synthetic chemical sales in the neighborhood of plastics and resins, man-made fibers, materials, production for 1980 as a $600 million. C&EN estimates that synthetic rubber, fertilizer and other whole was off 6%. both Goodyear Tire and ICI Americas agricultural chemicals, and various This year's Top 50 group (based on sold about that amount of chemicals specialty industrial products, such as 1980 sales) is comprised of most of the in 1980, although neither firm dis- water treatment chemicals and lucompanies that appeared in last closes its volume of chemical sales. bricant additives. Excluded, whenyear's compilation. And the relative (Goodyear reports sales of nearly $1 ever possible, are such related prodrankings are, for the most part, quite billion of industrial rubber, chemical, ucts as pharmaceuticals, coatings, similar to the year before—especially and plastics products, but that total fabricated plastics, detergents, adamong the 10 highest-ranking firms. includes a considerable amount of hesives, minerals, and finished conThis year, however, two major farm industrial belting and hose, tank sumer products. supply cooperative organizations, CF tracks, packaging films, shoe soles Individual companies do not necIndustries and Farmland Industries, and heels, vinyl film and sheeting, essarily report their financial data in are included for the first time; both graphic products, and adhesives.) the same way, however. Quite frehave big agricultural chemical oper- Pennwalt, too, has chemical sales of quently, for example, they will lump ations and would have been included just over $600 million. A little below sales of fabricated plastics with plasamong the Top 50 in previous years that level are companies like Akzona tic resins or phosphate rock with feralso had C&EN ranked them at that ($575 million in 1980), Cities Service tilizer phosphates. As a result, figures time. Other than these two, the only ($557 million), NL Industries ($552 on the chemical sales of one company addition to the group is Georgia- million), and Eli Lilly ($518 mil- may not be consistent with those for Pacific, the big forest products and lion). another, even though C&EN atpaper producer that has been sharply Some of the best increases in sales tempts to adjust the data with its own boosting its chemical and plastics last year stem from a strong demand estimates whenever possible. Consebusiness in recent years (sales of for fertilizer, both in the U.S. and quently, the rankings on the opposite chemicals have nearly doubled since abroad, coupled with improved page should be viewed as only ap1978). It replaces Akzona, whose prices. As a result, agricultural proximate, especially when two or chemical sales were essentially un- chemical companies such as Williams' more companies have sales that are changed last year. D Agrico Chemical, International nearly identical. David M. Kiefer C&EN, Washington
C&EIYsTop
50
40
C&EN May 4, 1981
Chemicals provide less than half of total sales for most of Top 50 chemical makers TOTAL COMPANY
Rsink 1980 1979*1
1 2 3 4 5
Company
~~T Du Pont 2 3 4 5
Dow Chemical Exxon Union Carbide Monsanto
Chemical sales Change 1980 from ($ millions) 1979
$10,250 7,217 6,936 5,650 5,453
Chemical sales Total as % of sales total 1980 sales ($ millions)
6%~ $ 13,652 10,626 9 103,143 19 9,994 7 6,574 5
Return on Industry classification
75% Basic chemicals Basic chemicals 68 Petroleum 7 57 Basic chemicals Basic chemicals 83
Net stoekhatdan\* equity* ProfH margin* income Rank Par cant 1980 I>er cent Rank ($ millions) 1980 1980 1979 1980 1980 1979
$ 706 805 5650.1 673 148.8
5.2% 7.6 5.5 6.7 2.3
27 ~14~~ΈΙ%~34 12 8 18.1 17 23 30 22.2 7 29 15 23 14.1 44 31 5.3 46
17 8 11 35 41
6 7 8 S 10
6 7 9 8 13
Celanese Shell Oil W. R. Grace Gulf Oil Occidental Petroleum
3,200 3,089 2,733d 2,569d 2,458d
6 19 14 5 23
3,348 19,830 6,101 26,483 12,476
96 16 45 10 20
Basic chemicals Petroleum Specialty chemicals Petroleum Petroleum
122 1542 283.8 1407 710.8
3.6 7.8 4.7 5.3 5.7
41 11 34 26 20
37 12 38 29 27
11.1 19.0 15.8 14.6 31.2
40 15 23 26 3
36 26 34 30 1
11 12 13 14 15
10 12 11 16 14
Allied Standard Oil (Ind.) Hercules Atlantic Richfield American Cyanamid
2,450 2,235 2,095 1,945 1,861d
14 11 3 17 10
5,519 26,133 2,485 23,744 3,454
44 9 84 8 54
Basic chemicals Petroleum Basic chemicals Petroleum Basic chemicals
289 1915.3 114.0 1651.4 159.2
5.2 7.3 4.6 6.8 4.6
27 13 36 14 35
39 10 15 16 32
15.0 20.4 11.3 22.2 11.1
25 12 38 8 39
40 16 15 11 39
16 17
15 Phillips Petroleum 17 Eastman Kodak
1,858 1,837
10 17
13,377 9,734
14 19
1069.6 1153.6
8.0 11.9
10 3
6 21.7 2 19.1
10 14
7 14
18 19 20
19 Stauffer Chemical 18 Rohm & Haas 22 Tenneco
1,643 1,608 1,565
11 9 11
1,695 1,725 13,226
97 93 12
Petroleum Photographic equipment Basic chemicals Basic chemicals Petroleum
136.6 93.7 726
8.1 5.4 5.5
9 24 22
7 14.6 24 13.3 33 15.2
27 31 24
27 32 28
21 22 23 24 25
23 20 21 25 28
Mobil Borden Ethyl Corp. U.S. Steel Texaco
1,558 1,548d 1,517d 1,437 1,346
18 6 5 19 29
59,510 4,596 1,741 12,492 51,196
3 34 87 12 3
Petroleum Dairy products Basic chemicals Steei Petroleum
281.3 147.9 89.7 458.9 2240.2
4.7 3.2 5.2 3.7 4.4
32 42 29 40 37
36 21.5 42 12.0 26 12.8 — 8.7 34 17.9
11 35 33 43 18
13 42 31
26 27 28 29
24 27 32 26
Diamond Shamrock Air Products6 CF Industries FMC
1,307 1,262 1,233d 1,215
6 19 21 7
3,143 1,421 1,233 3,482
42 89 100 35
201.2 115.5 187.3f 142.7
6.4 8.1 15.2 4.1
18 8 1 38
13 11 '3 35
16.2 17.4 38.7 11.5
22 20 1 37
19 20 2 38
30
36 Williams Cos.
1,171d
28
2,073
57
138.7
11.8
4
41 14.4
28
44
31 32 33 34 35
30 38 33 35 37
Standard Oil of Calif. Clba-Geigy Ashland Oil Mobay Chemical Union Oil of Calif.
1,155 1,115 1,100 1,069 1,048
11 32 8 12 21
40,479 1,690 8,118 1,069 9,984
3 66 14 100 10
Petroleum Specialty chemicals Petroleum Basic chemicals Petroleum
2401 na 205.1 54.1 647.0
5.9 na 2.5 5.1 6.5
19
25 21.7 na 43 17.6 22 13.0 18 18.6
9
9
36 37 38 39 40
31 43 34 29 45
B. F. Goodrich 1,022 International Minerals** 974 PPG Industries 964 BASF Wyandotte 917 Lubrizol 902
-2 24 -1 -12 24
3,080 1,790 3,158 917 902
33 54 31 100 100
Rubber products Agricultural chemicals Glass products Basic chemicals Specialty chemicals
41 42 43 44 45
40 39 42 41 44
American Hoechst Olin Conoco Reichhold Chemicals National Distillers
896 883 875 807 744
10 7 10 2 -4
1,290 1,853 18,301 885 2,055
69 48 5 91 36
46 47 48
47 Farmland Industries' 46 Dow Corning — Georgia-Pacific
734 681 661 d
20 12 22
4,745 681 5,016
15 100 13
49 50
48 Borg-Warner 49 Nalco Chemical
631 617
6 7
2,673 617
24 100
Basic chemicals Basic chemicals Agricultural chemicals Farm and construction machinery Agricultural chemicals
Basic chemicals Basic chemicals Petroleum Basic chemicals Alcoholic beverages Agricultural supplies Specialty chemicals Lumber and wood products Automobile equipment Specialty chemicals
2.0 61.7 8.2 145.9 6.6 209.2 (65.1f — 111.5 12.4
— —
43 30 17
45 7 16
— 2
—
44 6.4 9 16.6 17 13.9 48 — 1 24.6
— 24
— — 19 32 16
18 22 21
45 21 30
45 29 25 47 3
— 4
— —
(10)* 33.9 1026.2 16.1 110.6
1.8 5.6 1.8 5.4
46 21 47 25
45 na 40 4.5 19 22.4 47 7.8 20 9.4
47 6 44 42
43 5 46 37
182.5f 73.9 244
3.8 10.8 4.9
39 6 31
46 34.4 4 19.6 21 11.7
2 13 36
10 6 23
126.1 72.3
4.7 11.7
33 5
28 10.9 5 23.6
41 5
33 4
a Revised, b Net income as a percentage of net sales, c Net income as a percentage of net worth, d Chemical sales include significant amounts of nonchemlcal products, such as fabricated plastics, coatings, adhesives. minerals, and the like, e For the year ended Sept. 30. f Company is organized as a farm cooperative; net income represents patronage refunds plus net earnings or net savings, g For the year ended June 30. h Deficit, i For the year ended Aug. 31. na = not available.
May 4, 1981 C&EN
41
