Four major trends in the development of the global chemical industry

1. Industrial structure: Acceleration of adjustment

The complete oil and chemical industry chain, from the beginning of raw materials to the end of the market can be broadly divided into five industrial structure levels:

The first level is oil, natural gas and chemical mining; The second level is the basic petrochemical industry (olefins, aromatics and triacids and bases, etc.); The third level is the general chemical industry (polymers and synthetic fibers, etc.); The fourth level is high-end chemical industry (chemical new energy, chemical new materials, high-tech fine chemicals and modern coal chemical industry, etc.); Level 5 is for emerging edge and cross-cutting industries in chemical industry (life sciences such as genetic engineering and bioengineering, as well as pharmaceutical and environmental engineering, etc.). Level 5 represents the future direction of the chemical industry and the leading exploration of new technologies.

With the gradual maturity of the developed countries' markets and the progress of industrial technology, the world chemical industry is undergoing a new round of industrial structure adjustment and transformation and upgrading, accelerating the improvement of independent innovation capabilities, and constantly improving the level of industrial structure.

On the one hand, the concentration of resource-oriented industries continues to increase, such as energy, biomass, chemical ore conversion, etc.

On the other hand, the customer-oriented segment is becoming more refined and differentiated in terms of product categories, such as new functional materials, electronic chemicals, membrane materials, nanomaterials and catalysts.

International multinational chemical enterprises have never interrupted the adjustment of industrial structure. As in the 1970s, large-scale adjustment to the fine chemical industry, and since the beginning of this century, the pace of industrial structure adjustment of countries in the world, especially petrochemical powers and famous multinational companies has accelerated significantly, and the investment in the fourth and fifth levels of the industry is increasing, and the competition to seize the commanding heights of the future industry technology is becoming more and more fierce. According to the development trends of resources, energy, population, health, and the environment, foreign chemical giants are accelerating the transfer to materials science, life science, and environmental science industries under the promotion of the government.

Regional and feedstock competition has intensified with regional differentiation in raw materials such as natural gas, liquefied natural gas, naphtha and coal. Due to fluctuating raw material prices, the competitiveness of each region is in flux. Global oil and gas supply and demand have reversed, showing a trend of shifting the focus of consumption to the east and the focus of production to the west. In this context, countries have implemented the diversification strategy of petrochemical raw materials, which has led to the intensification of the development of the chemical industry in major regions of the world. Asia has become the main driving force and largest growth point for new capacity and demand in the global petrochemical industry.

2. Corporate trends: Business focus and merger and reorganization

Multinational chemical enterprises continue to integrate and optimize their business, gradually withdraw from the traditional chemical industry with low added value and high pollution, give up non-core business in order to improve competitiveness, develop in a more specialized direction, and further strengthen their dominant position in a certain field, such as fine and specialized chemicals or new fields of biotechnology-based life sciences such as pharmaceuticals, health care and agriculture.

In order to strengthen business focus, merger and reorganization between enterprises will always be one of the important development strategies of multinational companies. Companies in developed countries will stop or reduce domestic chemical production and turn to resource countries or regions with market development potential. Some companies in emerging economies will move in the opposite direction, seeking more overseas growth opportunities and seeking acquisitions in developed countries. In the context of weakened support for global integration in advanced economies, the overseas development path of emerging economies is particularly important for companies in these regions.

3. Driving force: Innovation-driven and green driven

Scientific and technological innovation is the most important driving force for industrial development and is also the core competitiveness. In the future, the chemical industry pays more attention to scientific and technological innovation, and actively innovates and develops a new generation of chemical technology. In addition to the inherent pursuit of low consumption, zero emissions, and flexible raw materials, the focus of chemical science and technology innovation in the next 10 years will be on the progress of intersecting and marginal disciplines: the combination of chemistry and biology to promote medicine, agriculture and renewable resources; Catalysis, separation and information technology-related chemical reactions and process enhancement technologies; Nanoscience, optics, electricity and superimposed new materials science and technology; Materials chemistry combines machining and chemistry to solve problems, and additive manufacturing uses chemistry to solve mechanical problems.

The high-end and differentiated development of products has become an important trend. The emergence of new products is becoming more and more difficult, and more and more enterprises in developed economies focus on research and development to extend the function of existing products or use them together. Functional chemicals represented by new chemical materials and special chemicals have undergone rapid development. In packaging materials, automotive lightweight, electronic chemicals, building materials, new energy and other fields to form a large number of high-end and functional chemicals portfolio. Now this trend will gradually be passed on to developing emerging economies, creating higher value and more market opportunities.

Product innovation is important, but the combination of product portfolio and service solutions is still the model to achieve the highest profit margin. Most of the leading multinational chemical companies in the concept of innovative development and restructuring, the pursuit of upper and lower priorities (cost advantages and technological advantages) :

① Commanding heights of raw material utilization technology

Such as methane to ethylene technology, artificial light synthesis technology, carbon recycling technology. In addition, the technology of ethane dehydrogenation, propane dehydrogenation, isobutane dehydrogenation to produce isobutene, and n-butane dehydrogenation to produce n-butene is also maturing.

② The demand of the end market

One level is to provide high quality products and integrated solutions for industrial users, extend the industrial chain, improve enterprise efficiency, and enhance market competitiveness; The other level is to focus on human life itself, putting the focus and commanding heights of innovation and development in medical, health care and life sciences.

The global chemical industry is also striving to change from "end-management" to "whole-process production control" to achieve green, low-carbon and circular development. At the same time for energy saving and emission reduction, environmental protection to provide advanced solutions and technical products, whether it is the traditional "three wastes" treatment and improve the efficiency of energy and resources use, or reduce and control greenhouse gas emissions, the chemical industry will have a great deal to do.

In general, the focus of innovation and development of multinational companies in the next 10 years is at the high-end of the industry's technological structure, closely focusing on life sciences, new chemical materials, new chemical energy, special chemicals and environmental protection technology, accelerating original innovation and characteristic innovation, striving to achieve new breakthroughs in industrial technology, and striving to create new advantages to occupy the future competitive heights.

4. Digital revolution: Deep integration with information technology

Chemical industry has been integrated with biological industry, environmental industry, service industry and financial industry for a long time, and the new trend is to further integrate with the information industry. Chemical professional e-commerce, chemical industry Internet, industrial Internet is gradually advancing and deepening. Chemical enterprises in ERP, MES and other systems integration implementation and application, the integration of chemical industry and the Internet has gradually evolved from online and data to intelligent.

From the "Industry 4.0" and "re-industrialization" strategies proposed by developed countries in Europe and the United States, to the "Internet +" and "Made in China 2025" vigorously promoted by China, chemical companies are reshaping the industrial chain with the deep application of the Internet and information technology. Industry consensus believes that in the face of the baptism of the new round of industrial revolution at home and abroad and the status quo and trend of information construction of domestic enterprises, the chemical industry to create "four-chain integration" (production and finance value chain, industrial value chain, ecological value chain, enterprise manufacturing value chain), technology integration, data integration, security integration and innovation integration as the characteristics of the smart enterprise has become an inevitable direction.

In essence, digitalization is part of the innovation drive, but its importance lies in the fact that the field of digitalization will replace product innovation and solutions as the main battlefield for chemical companies in the next stage of competition, and leading chemical companies such as BASF are actively embracing the digital wave as a top-level strategy. Digitalization not only reduces costs and increases efficiency, but also new business models, technology development models, and organizational models are emerging.