China dominated the world’s industrial production in 2021, as well as the growth of that sector, said the German chemical company BASF.
Worldwide, global industrial production grew 6.5% in 2021 (2020: -3.0 percent).
Overall, advanced economies experienced slightly lower growth (5.3%) than emerging markets, which experienced a 7.4% increase.
The largest contribution to global industrial production growth came from China (2021: +8.4%; 2020: +3.7 percent).
Around 30% of global industrial value creation and almost 40% of its growth were generated there.
In total, while more than 50% of global industrial growth came from Asia, the region’s output expanded by 7.5 percent in 2021 (2020: -0.1 percent).
With companies in 90 countries, BASF operates six Verbund sites and an additional 232 production sites around the world. Its Verbund site in Ludwigshafen, Germany, is the world’s largest integrated chemical complex owned by a single company.
The Verbund concept was developed and optimized there and then applied to other sites around the world. Construction of the first plants continued at its planned new smart Verbund site in Zhanjiang, China.
Industrial production
Industrial production growth was negatively affected by supply difficulties in 2021.
In many areas, existing orders could not be processed due to a lack of intermediate goods.
Likewise, transportation capacities, especially ship and container capacities in foreign trade, were not sufficient to meet the strong increase in demand for industrial goods.
Additionally, manufacturing disruptions in Asia due to regional lockdowns were also a factor.
In the European Union, industrial production increased significantly, by 6.6% (2020: -7.1 percent).
After the sharp drop in the previous year, the UK saw growth of 8.3% (2020: -10.4 percent).
By contrast, North America‘s industrial growth was below average at 5.0% (2020: -4.8 percent).
South America recorded an increase just above the world average (2021: 7.0%; 2020: -6.5 percent).
BASF has around 111,000 employees and its portfolio is divided into the Chemicals, Materials, Industrial Solutions, Surface Technologies, Nutrition and Care, and Agricultural Solutions segments.
