Specialty Chemicals Businesses in Several Global Chemical Companies

 In a previous blog, I showed the reporting segment names used by 38 global chemical companies.  (Click here to see that blog.)   Seven of the 38 companies have specialty in one of their reporting segments names (Albemarle, Clariant, Covestro, Evonik, Shin-Etsu, Solvay, and Wacker).   

In this blog, I provide brief descriptions in the table below on those seven companies’ (Albemarle, Clariant, Covestro, Evonik, Shin-Etsu, Solvay, and Wacker) specialty chemicals businesses.  I also reviewed the annual reports of the other 31 companies as to what specialty chemicals businesses they have, even though they have no specialty chemicals reporting business segments.  The other companies that indicate specialty chemicals businesses are also presented in the table, along with brief descriptions of their specialty chemicals businesses based on my review of the companies’ annual reports.  Altogether, 11 of the 38 companies indicate specialty chemicals businesses, and 27 of the 38 companies report no specialty chemicals businesses and are not listed in the table below. 

 

company	additive businesses
albemarle	highly-engineered specialty chemicals	bromine-based chemicals for flame prevention, etc.	tertiary amines for surfactants, biocides, etc.
celanese	chemicals produced for several industries
chemours	titanium dioxide, refrigerants, fluoropolymer resins, and sodium cyanide used in several industries
clariant	pure-play specialty chemicals company	high value and often custom-manufactured chemicals with specific performance and functionality
eastman	objective is to be an outperforming specialty chemicals company
evonik	focuses on businesses with clear specialty chemicals characteristics	specialty chemicals make indispensable contributions to  the benefits of customers' products
lanxess	honing profile as a specialty chemical company	specialty chemicals for battery technologies
shin-etsu	cellulose derivatives -materials made from a natural polymer	synthetic pheromones	aroma chemicals
solvay	putting customers at core of its organization to enhance long-term growth as specialty chemicals company
sumitomo	one of busines segments characterized as specialty chemicals	raw material additives
wacker	states that Wacker is a global company with state-of-the-art specialty chemical products found in countless everyday items

 

Here are some conclusions from my research of the annual reports of the 38 global chemical companies related to their “specialty chemicals” businesses: 

• As indicated in the table above for Clariant and Evonik, a special chemicals business is one that is of high value and offers custom-manufactured chemicals with specific performance and functionality to customers.   Specialty chemicals make indispensable contributions to the benefits of the  customers’ products. 
• Several chemical companies in the table above, e.g., Clariant, Eastman, Evonik, Lanxess, Solvay, and Wacker, consider themselves as purely a specialty chemicals company or are pursuing that goal as the best alternative for them.  Stated reasons for this relate to the higher margins, higher profits that can be obtained by providing customers with specialty chemicals that are vital to those customers’ businesses. 
• Success as a specialty-chemicals company probably requires excellent research & development (R&D) to find those chemicals and chemical technologies that will make a difference for their customers.  Perhaps one way of differentiating a special chemicals company from other chemical companies is in the company’s R&D programs and expenditures. 
• The two Japanese chemical companies in the table above (Shin-Etsu and Sumitomo) do not emphasize those segments that are described as specialty chemicals (they represent small percentages of overall sales) or that they are aiming to be a specialty chemicals company.