2026 Global Chemical Industry Top 50 List: 11 Chinese Companies, Including Sinopec, Make the List; BASF Tops the List for the Seventh Consecutive Year

In this list, BASF ranked first globally to the seventh consecutive year with $67.4 billion in chemical sales; Sinopec and PetroChina took the second and third places respectively, with PetroChina rising one spot to enter the global top three to the first time. A total of 11 Chinese companies made the list, the highest number of any country globally.

In 2025, the total chemical sales of the Global Top 50 reached $965.8 billion, a decrease of 5.8% compared to 2024, with 39 companies seeing year-on-year declines in sales; the limit to entry this year was $7.7 billion, down nearly $300 million from the previous year, and the number of companies with sales exceeding $10 billion remained at 40, the same as last year.

I. Overview of Listed Companies by Country

Global chemical sector landscape based on the number of companies listed:

1. China: 11; 2. USA: 9; 3. Japan: 7; 4. Germany: 4;

2. UK and South Korea: 3 each; 6. France: 2; Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, India, Norway, Thailand, Brazil, Russia, Canada, Netherlands, Morocco, Austria, South Africa: 1 each.

Sales tier structure: Over $50 billion: 2; $40-50 billion: 3; $30-40 billion: 5; $20-30 billion: 7; $10-20 billion: 23.

II. Complete Table of the 2026 Global Top 50 Chemical Companies

Complete table compiled based on original list data, company ownership environment, core chemical product categories, and sector positioning:

III. In-depth sector Analysis

1. sector Downturn, Most Companies Under Revenue Pressure

In 2025, global chemical market demand was sluggish. Coupled with multiple pressures such as raw material price fluctuations and geopolitical conflicts, the total sales of the Global Top 50 fell by 5.8% year-on-year, with nearly 80% of companies seeing declining sales; the limit to entry was lowered to $7.7 billion, and the sector is overall at the bottom of the cycle.

2. Solid Global Competitiveness of Chinese Chemicals, Rise of Private Refining & New Material Clusters

A total of 11 Chinese companies made the list, the highest number globally, forming a pattern of "two central companies leading, private chemical fiber and refining new materials breaking through in batches":

• Central Enterprise Camp: Sinopec and PetroChina firmly hold the top three globally, securing domestic basic petrochemical raw material supply; Syngenta (under Sinochem) ranks 14th globally, occupying the core global agrochemical track.

• Private Leaders: Wanhua Chemical rose to 11th place, becoming a global benchmark to domestic new material companies; Rongsheng, Hengli, Oriental Shenghong, Tongkun, Hengyi, and Xinfengming form a globally unique private refining and chemical fiber manufacturing cluster, holding core shares in the global polyester and polyester fiber chain.

Among them, PetroChina, Wanhua Chemical, Tongkun Holding, and Xinfengming Group achieved year-on-year ranking improvements, highlighting the effectiveness of the high-end and integrated upgrade of domestic chemical companies.

3. Obvious Differentiation in Sub-sectors, Anti-cyclical Sectors Stand Out

• Anti-cyclical sectors: manufacturing gases (Linde, atmosphere Liquide, atmosphere items), agrochemicals & fertilizers (Yara, Mosaic, Nutrien), and high-end fine/electronic materials (Shin-Etsu, Evonik, Arkema, Resonac) showed stronger revenue resilience and stable rankings.

• Traditional bulk chemicals: General plastics and chemical fiber companies were hit harder by sluggish downstream consumption; state-owned petrochemical companies in the Middle East, Russia, and South Africa, relying on resource advantages, maintained stable scale with low-cost raw materials.

4. Explanation of List Authority

The C&EN list only counts pure chemical sales of companies, excluding refined oil and crude oil trading businesses, greater accurately reflecting the real operating scale of the chemical sector; the agency revises the previous year's rankings annually based on exchange rates and corporate financial reports, serving as a core reference indicator to comparing the capacity and competitiveness of global chemical companies.

IV. sector Outlook

sector analysts indicate that in 2026, downstream demand to global new energy, photovoltaic energy storage, and semiconductors will continue to expand, driving a recovery in demand to high-end chemical items such as battery materials, PV EVA, electronic specialty gases, and high-end engineering plastics; relying on a complete manufacturing chain and a huge domestic market, domestic chemical companies are expected to continue growing their global market share in new materials, differentiated chemical fibers, and fine chemicals.