In 2011, capital spending by chemical firms in the US, Europe and Japan covered by Chemical & Engineering News’s 2011 review grew 21.1%, 23.6% and 11.3% to $10.2 billion, $18.4 billion and $9.4 billion, respectively. The chemical firms with the highest capital spending were the US’s Dow Chemical, France’s Air Liquide and Germany’s Bayer, for which spending grew 4.2%, 21.0% and 6.7% to $2.7 billion, $2.4 billion and $2.3 billion, respectively. Capital spending increased the most at US firms Albemarle and Cabot, jumping 151.3% and 112.96%, respectively, followed by Belgium’s Solvay, for which it grew 110.0%. In 2011, US chemical firms’ R&D spending rose by 9.2% to $6.3 billion, European firms’ R&D spending rose 3.6% to $12.5 billion, and Japanese firms spent $7.0 billion, a 1.6% decrease. The three chemical firms that spent the most on R&D were in Germany: Bayer, BASF and Merck, for which R&D spending fell 3.9%, rose 7.6% and grew 8.6% to $4.1 billion, $2.2 billion and $2.1 billion, respectively. The US firms Solutia and Albermarle, followed by Swiss firm Clariant, had the biggest increases in R&D spending in 2011 at 33.3%, 32.8% and 31.0%, respectively.

Source: Chemical & Engineering News