The chemical industry is one of the most diverse industries, involving the manufacture of solid, liquid, and gaseous substances. Many chemical companies convert raw materials such as oil, natural gas, air, water, minerals, and metals into more than 70000 different products and substances. In addition, chemical companies are a very important contributor to the GDP of many countries. For example, the contribution of chemical companies to the gross national product (GNP) of European countries exceeds 1%, which exceeds 6% of the GNP generated by all manufacturing industries.
After the outbreak of covid-19 in 2019, strict regulation and blockade have had an unprecedented impact on the overall situation of the global economy and chemical industry, resulting in significant losses in the past few months. Although the chemical industry has been in a cyclical crisis such as pricing pressure, overcapacity, and trade uncertainty before 2020, some changes after the epidemic show disorderly characteristics. Chemical companies in the United States have responded to the coronavirus pandemic by focusing on cost management, operational efficiency, and asset optimization.
In the coming months, the changing socio-political, economic, and environmental expectations are expected to play a more important role in shaping the future of the chemical industry. To succeed in the changing industry scenario of the chemical market, companies and organizations should consider implementing a series of well-defined strategic plans across key functional areas, such as technology and R D. However, focusing too much on short-term growth may mean that enterprises ignore long-term opportunities. This includes major investments in technology, innovation, the latest applications, and the implementation of new business models to achieve sustained growth.
To effectively deal with this situation in 2021, the main aspect is to understand temporary customer behavior and permanent customer behavior, because the recovery may be uneven in each market segment and region. Companies and organizations will need to address this uncertainty by modifying their business models and robust scenario planning.
At the beginning of the 21st century, the annual sales of the chemical industry were US $ 1.8 trillion, and the current annual sales exceeded US $ 4.1 trillion, which led to strong growth and extraordinary prospects for investment and growth opportunities at the business to business ( B2B) level. The world's largest chemical company is DuPont, followed by BASF and Sinopec.
