FACTS & FIGURES2022

THE EUROPEAN CHEMICAL INDUSTRYA VITAL PART OF EUROPE’S FUTURE

Cefic Facts & Figures 2022

During the last two years marked by the pandemic and the subsequent economic crisis, our sector proved in practice its strategic role for Europe producing the necessary health care materials and equipment. Tomorrow’s world will become even more so a world created by chemistry, as many future climate-neutral and circular solutions rely on Chemistry, from wind turbines to electric vehicles. Consequently, the European Commission has recognised the chemical industry for its “indispensable” role to help society achieve the new European Green Deal objectives.

Our European chemical industry has the ambition to become climate neutral by 2050, and the sector is uniquely positioned at the heart of European manufacturing to contribute to realizing a climate-neutral society.

At the same time, the chemical industry must remain competitive while undergoing a green and digital “twin” transition in order to become climate-neutral, circular and digital, all while navigating the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability (CSS), which will not only affect the sector economically for the years and decades to come, but it will also create a significant “ripple effect” across many value chains relying on chemicals.

For this transition to be successful, a clear pathway that includes concrete timelines, milestones, and measures should be put forward by EU policymakers in close collaboration with Industry. This Transition Pathway for the chemical industry should ensure the availability of competitively priced renewable and low-carbon energy, promote innovation and the deployment of breakthrough technologies, support the development of relevant infrastructure and facilitate access to public and private finance.

With most of all manufactured goods relying on chemicals, Europe’s chemical industry is a crucial element of almost all value chains and a vital part of Europe’s economy.

Foreword

Disclaimer: For the sake of data integrity, figures within Cefic’s Facts & Figures publications are compiled and updated on a regular basis from public statistical sources (Eurostat, EU Commission, EEA, …). These sources regularly review their previous years’ data and at times retroactively amend it. As a result of these updates, the comparison of annual Cefic Facts & Figures editions is not necessarily consistent over time.

Unless specified, chemical industry excludes pharmaceuticals

Cefic Facts & Figures 2022

Source: Cefic Chemdata International * Rest of Europe covers UK, Switzerland, Norway, Turkey, Russia and Ukraine ** Asia excluding China, India, Japan and South Korea

70

EU27Rest of Europe*

Rest of Asia**

Japan

South Korea

Rest of the world

India

Latin America95

Africa

27

499129

144

China

USA

342

1,547426102

92

World chemical sales (2020, €3,471 billion)

Europe is the second largest chemicals producer in the world

Cefic Facts & Figures 2022

Source: Cefic Chemdata International

World chemical sales by country: top 10

China dominates chemical sales globallyC

hem

ical s

ales

202

0 (€

bill

ion)

0

200

400

600

800

1,000

1,200

1,400

1,600

UKRussiaBrazilTaiwanIndiaSouthKorea

JapanUSAEU27China

1,547

426499

102 92144

66 54 40 36

Cefic Facts & Figures 2022

Source: Cefic Chemdata International

EU27 share of global chemicals market

World market share of EU27 chemical sales drops substantially

EU27

che

mica

l sal

es (€

bill

ion)

Wor

ld sh

are

(%)

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

500

550

600

2020201920182017201620152014201320122011201020092008200720022000

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

363 363

455471

380

456

506 518 510 498 494 478521

541 533499

EU27 chemical sales (€ billion)World share (%)

14.4%

24.9%

Cefic Facts & Figures 2022

Source: Cefic Chemdata International * Rest of Europe covers UK, Switzerland, Norway, Turkey, Russia and Ukraine ** North American Free Trade Agreement *** Asia excluding China, Japan and South Korea

World chemical sales 2020-2030

A smaller European slice of a larger chemicals market

1.3%

3.6%

48.6%

10.5%

3.7%

2.7% 0.9%

14.2%

3.7%

14.4%

2.7%

13.8%

€3.5 trillion €6.2 trillion

Sales 2020 Sales 2030

ChinaRest of Asia***NAFTA**

EU27Rest of Europe*Japan

Latin AmericaRest of the world

44.6%

4.1%

15.4%15.8%

Cefic Facts & Figures 2022

Source: Cefic Chemdata International * Rest of Europe covers UK, Switzerland, Norway, Turkey, Russia and Ukraine ** North American Free Trade Agreement *** Asia excluding China and Japan

EU27 chemicals trade flows with major geographic blocs (2020)

EU27 holds trade surplus with top competing markets

China

Rest of Europe*

NAFTA**

Rest of the world

Latin America

Japan

Africa

33.6

24.4

61.4

47.1

Rest of Asia***30.2

25.73.58.5

10.83.4

5.02.7

15.215.4

4.66.6

Extra-EU27 exports (€169.3 billion)Extra-EU27 imports (€128.8 billion)

Cefic Facts & Figures 2022

Source: Cefic Chemdata International *Trade = exports + imports

EU27 chemicals trade flows with top 10 partners (2020)

Top 10 EU27 partners account for 70% of EU27 chemicals trade*

Switzerland

TurkeyChina

Japan

Russia

South Korea

India

UnitedKingdom

USA17.1% 7.3%

10.2%4.0%3.4% 3.7%

2.3%

3.0%

4.9%14.3%

Singapore

EU27 trade surplus

EU27 trade deficit

Cefic Facts & Figures 2022

Source: ICIS

Ethylene cash cost of regional steam crackers

Energy costs are the Achilles’ heel of European industry

H1 20212020201920182017201620152014201320122011

US$

/tonn

e C

2

0

200

100

400

300

600

500

800

700

1,000

900

1,100

1,200

1,400

1,300

Middle EastNorth AmericaEurope

Cefic Facts & Figures 2022

Source: Cefic Chemdata International * Rest of Europe covers UK, Switzerland, Norway, Turkey, Russia and Ukraine ** North American Free Trade Agreement *** Asia excluding China, India, Japan and South Korea

Capital spending in the chemicals industry by region: 2020 vs 2010

China leads the global chemicals investment

EU27

Japan

South KoreaIndia

Latin America

NAFTA**

China

Rest of the world

Rest of Europe*

Rest of Asia***

12.426.5

16.020.3

7.16.2

4.76.0

51.192.2

2.43.9

5.13.3

1.01.6

17.122.6

6.010.3

2010 chemicals capital spending (€ billion)2020 chemicals capital spending (€ billion)

Cefic Facts & Figures 2022

Source: OECD and Cefic Chemdata International

R&I spending by the EU27 chemical industry

EU27 R&I spending reached the highest level in 2020

2020201820162014201220102008200620042002

€ bi

llion

% o

f add

ed v

alue

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

0

2

4

6

8

10

6.7 6.7 6.8 6.67.1 7.0 7.2 7.1 7.0 7.2

7.5 7.57.8

8.2 8.3 8.6 9.09.3 9.4

7.6% 7.4%

� R&I spending (% of added value) R&I spending (€ billion)

Cefic Facts & Figures 2022

Source: OECD and Cefic Chemdata International

R&I spending in the chemicals industry by region: 2020 vs 2010

EU27 is the second largest R&I investor in the world

EU27UK

Switzerland

China

Japan

South KoreaIndia

USA

Brazil

0.81.8

0.81.1

4.314.0

6.48.1

7.0

9.46.5

7.8

0.190.20

Rest of the world

1.41.6

0.40.7

1.13.1

2010 R&I spending (€ billion)2020 R&I spending (€ billion)

Cefic Facts & Figures 2022

Source: Eurostat

Total energy consumption in the EU27 chemical industry by source (%)

EU27 gas and electricity account for nearly two thirds of total energy consumption

35.6

28.1

15.4

14.6

4.8

0.8 0.6

GasElectricity HeatOil and petroleum products (excluding biofuel portion)

Solid fossil fuelsNon-renewable wasteRenewables and biofuels

50.8 million tonnes of oil equivalent

(2019)

Cefic Facts & Figures 2022

EU27 consumption falls by 21% since 1990

Source: Eurostat

Energy consumption in the EU27 chemical industry

2019201520102005200019951990

Mill

ions

of t

onne

s of o

il eq

uiva

lent

64.6

55.7

51.8 52.5

49.150.2 50.8

-19%

-3%

70

65

60

55

50

45

40

Cefic Facts & Figures 2022

Source: European Environment Agency (EEA), *Germany and Malta did not separately report GHG emissions from combustion of fuels in the chemical sector.

Total scope 1 GHG emissions* by the EU27 chemical industry

EU27 greenhouse gas emissions* fall by nearly 54% since 1990

2019201720152013201120092007200520032001199919971995199319910

50

25

100

75

150

125

200

175

250

225

300

275

Mill

ions

of t

onne

s (C

O2

equi

vale

nt)

Emissions from combustion of fuels Process emissions

Cefic Facts & Figures 2022

Source: European Environment Agency (EEA), *Germany and Malta did not separately report GHG emissions from combustion of fuels in the chemical sector.

Total scope 1 GHG emissions* by the EU27 chemical industry per type of GHG

EU27 GHG emissions* fall by 145.1 million tonnes (CO2) since 1990

201920172015201320112009200720052003200119991997199519931991

Mill

ions

of t

onne

s (C

O2

equi

vale

nt)

Fluorinated gas emissions N2O emissions CH4 emissions CO2 emissions

0

50

25

100

75

150

125

200

175

250

225

300

275

Cefic Facts & Figures 2022

Source: European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (E-PRTR) * Slovakia did not report data under the EU Registry. Data for Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, and Portugal are incomplete for 2018 and 2019. Data for Italy, Malta and Switzerland are incomplete for the year 2019.

Total hazardous and non-hazardous waste in the EU27 chemicals industry

EU27 chemical waste falls by nearly one third since 2007

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

2019*2018*20172016201520142013201220112010200920082007

Production indexNon-hazardous wasteHazardous waste

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Was

te (m

illio

n m

etric

tonn

es)

Prod

uctio

n in

dex

(201

5 =

100)

Cefic Facts & Figures 2022

Source: European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (E-PRTR) * Slovakia did not report data under the EU Registry. Data for Germany, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, and Portugal are incomplete for 2018 and 2019. Data for Italy, Malta and Switzerland are incomplete for the year 2019.

Accidental pollutant releases by the EU27 chemicals industry

EU27 accidental pollutant releases dropped by at least 40% since 2007

2019*2018*201720162015201420132012201120102009200820070

200

400

600

800

1,000

1,200

1,400

1,600

1,800

2,000

2,200

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

LandAir Water

Acc

iden

tial p

ollu

tion

to a

ir an

d w

ater

(#)

Acc

iden

tal p

ollu

tion

to la

nd (#

)

Cefic Facts & Figures 2022

Source: European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (E-PRTR) * Slovakia did not report data under the EU Registry. Data for Germany, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, and Portugal are incomplete for 2018 and 2019. Data for Italy, Malta and Switzerland are incomplete for the year 2019.

Acidifying emissions to air by the EU27 chemicals industry

EU27 acidifying emissions fall by more than 70% since 2007

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

2019*2018*20172016201520142013201220112010200920082007

AmmoniaNitrogen oxides Sulphur oxides

Acid

ifyin

g em

issio

ns (

1000

tonn

es)

Cefic Facts & Figures 2022

Source: European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (E-PRTR) * Slovakia did not report data under the EU Registry. Data for Germany, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, and Portugal are incomplete for 2018 and 2019. Data for Italy, Malta and Switzerland are incomplete for the year 2019.

Total organic carbon emissions to water by the EU27 chemicals industry

EU27 emission of water pollutants nearly halved since 2007

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

2019*2018*20172016201520142013201220112010200920082007

Tota

l org

anic

carb

on (1

000

tonn

es)

Total organic carbon (as total C or COD/3)

24.522.2

16.9

19.6 20.2

15.6 16.3 16.9 16.819.1

17.8

13.712.4

Cefic Facts & Figures 2022

Source: European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (E-PRTR) * Slovakia did not report data under the EU Registry. Data for Germany, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, and Portugal are incomplete for 2018 and 2019. Data for Italy, Malta and Switzerland are incomplete for the year 2019.

EU27 methane and non-methane volatile organic compound (NM-VOCs) emissions to air

EU27 emissions to air fall by 70% since 2007

0

30

20

10

40

50

60

70

80

90

2019*2018*20172016201520142013201220112010200920082007

Non-methane volatile organic compounds Methane

Non

-met

hane

vol

atile

org

anic

com

poun

ds (1

000

tonn

es)

Cefic Facts & Figures 2022

Source: European Environment Agency (EEA)

GHG emission and production by the EU27 chemical industry

EU27 chemical production and greenhouse gas emissions decoupled

Inde

x (1

990

= 10

0)

� Production index� Greenhouse gas emissions index

-54%

47%

0102030405060708090

100110120130140150160170

2019201520102005200019951990

A full version of the 2022 Cefic Facts & Figures of the European chemical industry is available online on the Cefic website.

EnquiriesDr. Moncef HadhriEconomic Affairsmha@cefic.be

Cefic, the European Chemical Industry Council, founded in 1972, is the voice of large, medium and small chemical companies across Europe, which provide 1.2 million jobs and account for about 14.4% of world chemicals production.

Cefic members form one of the most active networks of the business community, complemented by partnerships with industry associations representing various sectors in the value chain. A full list of our members is available on the Cefic website: www.cefic.org/about-us

Cefic is an active member of the International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA), which represents chemical manufacturers and producers all over the world and seeks to strengthen existing cooperation with global organisations such as UNEP and the OECD to improve chemicals management worldwide.

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