Chemical Industry Q3 Overview

The chemical industry has been suffering from the beginning of FY21 due to various challenges i.e. rise in raw material prices, high freight cost and  increased energy prices. However some businesses were able to pass on the incremental prices and sustain the margins, but rest had to absorb the prices and expect to be passed on in coming quarters.

To understand the performance, we have divided the chemical sector into wide categories of commodity, specialty, aroma and agro chemicals. The category is divided on the basis of product offerings and differentiation.

Commodity chemical 

The category consists of  companies which manufacture basic chemical raw materials with low value and high volume products, which are required by the specialty companies to make value added products. The chemicals include soda ash, nitrates, benzene derivatives, acetates, dyestuff and other basic chemicals.

Crude Oil

• Crude prices have been constantly rising upwards from 20$/barrel in April-2020, reaching to the heights of 96$/barrel in Feb-2022. Crude acts as prime raw material for the chemical industry, thus increase of more than 300% in crude prices resulted in higher prices for petrochemical derivatives

Acetic Acid

• Acetic acid prices had a sharp uptake of more than 100% from February 2021, reaching the high of ₹130 in June 2021.However the prices have corrected in the previous quarter and expected to be lower ahead.

Benzene

• Due to rise in crude prices, benzene has also seen an uptick in prices reaching to the levels of ₹88 in august 2021. The prices are correcting but are yet reach at pre-covid levels

Ethyl Acetate

• Ethyl acetate was also impacted by high volatility in prices reaching to the levels of ₹168 in august 2021.

Phenol

• Phenol also followed the uptrend with a sharp rise of 86% from the previous year.
• The commodity business performed marginally well during the quarter. The incremental prices were easily passed on to consumers thus resulting in margin sustainability.
• Due to revival of demand in textile industry, dyes and pigments business delivered healthy performance while defending the margins.
• The industry is undergoing a heavy capex cycle with most of the companies expanding their capacities. 
• Due to rainfall in Kutch, the salt prices have gone up impacting the input cost for soda ash business.
• Commodity companies did well during the Q3 but it won’t be the same going forward as the KSM prices neutralises, margins will be back in place.

Specialty chemicals

The specialty chemicals are high value and low volume products manufactured by companies having expertise in specific chemistry. These are known as specialty chemicals because the manufacturing of chemicals requires niche chemistry with high expertise. The product is of high purity and has to meet the customers quality expectations.

• The specialty chemicals business was impacted the most due to high input prices as the incremental costs are usually absorbed due to long term contracts. However, there can be some lag in passing the price increases.

Clean Sciences

• Margins of clean sciences got affected as raw materials needed to manufacture MEHQ, BHA, 4-MAP, Guaiacol are dependent on phenol and prices of the phenol increased due to increase in crude prices. (Watch the video to understand Clean Sciences Business Model in Detail)

Vinati Organics

• Vinati Organics margins also got affected due to same reason, as Crude oil derivatives such as toluene are used as raw materials for manufacturing IBB and ATBS. (Watch the video to understand  Vinati Organics Business Model in Detail)

Agro Chemicals

The agro chemical business are classified as crop protection, crop nutrition having presence in CRAMS, technicals /intermediates, specialty chemicals and formulations. The agrochemical business is highly dependent on weather and climatic conditions, thus sudden changes in climate affects the demand pipeline.

• The monsoon season this year has not favoured agri input companies as excessive rainfall continued into Q3 in the southern states.
• Supply chain challenges continued into Q3 with availability being a challenge for certain intermediates as well as steep inflation in prices.
• Headwinds in the industry due to change in government regulations in certain states like paddy procurement in telangana.
• Illegal cotton cultivation still poses a threat to industry.
• Rabi sowing was up due to higher water levels, and demand for the products will be expected soon.
• The crop acreage was higher than last year but substantial increase was seen in  oil seeds.
• The companies like PI Industries which have diversified geographical presence and  substantial revenues are contributed from CMDO business segments reduced the impact of domestic business volatility due to monsoon. (Watch the video to understand  PI Industries Business Model in Detail)

Flavours & Fragrance and Aroma Chemicals

The F&F industry value chain is classified into 1)  aroma chemical, 2)  Fragrance & flavours. The industry is highly dependent on FMCG products demand. The aroma chemicals are used by formulators to make different flavours and fragrance which are to be used in FMCG products like snacks, beverages, cosmetics, perfumes, laundry products and others.

• The quarter was challenging due to high input cost, however demand stood strong with difficulty in margins sustainability.
• As steam is necessary for manufacturing aroma chemicals, the power expense contributed heavily followed by freight cost
• Only few players in India manufacture speciality aroma chemicals, the competition is more on the international front.
• F&F industry is dominated by 4 international players i.e Giavudan, Fimenich, IFF, Symrise with 50% market share together. Due to this smaller F&F manufacturers like SH Kelkar face difficulties in new client acquisition, as this industry have very sticky contracts between manufacturer(F&F) and customer(FMCG). Customers generally don’t want to change their suppliers(F&F manufactures)  as it can change final products flavour or fragrance.