Chemical segments

BASF is a chemical manufacturing company that operates production facilities in 38 countries, owns 159 subsidiaries and serves customers in more than 170 countries. Around 22% of BASF sales are made to North American industries. The firm operates in five business segments chemicals plastics performance products agricultural products and nutrition and oil and gas. The chemicals segment manufactures over 1,500 inorganic, petrochemical and intermediate chemicals for the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and automotive industries. The plastics segment primarily manufactures polystyrene, styrenics and... 

There are two problems around growth in the commodity chemicals segment. 

The export and import values for chemical segments described in Table 2.4, chemical-fertilizer, chemical-organic, chemical-inorganic, and chemical-other, are detailed in Table 2.5. The magnitude of the individual items varies from year to year, but overall, the balance is favorable and these four segments of chemical manufacturing are usually positive values. It should be pointed out that various items (plastic materials, pharmaceuticals, etc.) that make up chemical manufacturing have been excluded, but this was done without bias. The four items used in Tables 2.4 and 2.5 are directly related to what has been traditionally known as the chemical industry. The less favorable Total Trade Balance of the United... 

A closer look at the various specialty chemical segments suggests that, for several reasons, most of them will undergo significant restructuring over the next decade. 

Superior cost management has been a key success factor in the more commoditized chemical segments such as polyolefines and basic chemicals (e.g., methanol) for some time now, and this shows through in strong productivity improvements. 

An increase in the number of worldwide players in many chemical segments, new low cost entrants, and increasing opportunities for global price arbitrage have increased the pressure on chemical companies, particularly those with a heavy exposure to the commodity chemicals such as olefines, plastics, and fertilizers, which represent approximately one third of all chemical sales. 

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