BASF to focus on creating value as No. 1 rank slips

By Patricia Weiss

FRANKFURT, June 9 (Reuters) - BASF will not push to defend its years-long top rank among the world's largest chemical companies by revenues to instead focus on creating value amid unprecedented upheavals and shifts in the industry, the German group's CEO said.

• "Size in itself is not a goal for us," CEO Markus Kamieth told journalists late on Monday

• "We may no longer be the biggest in the world – others will overtake us in terms of sheer size – but we will remain one of the most valuable companies in our industry," said the CEO

• Kamieth said the business environment was at its most difficult in at least the last 25 years, with the global balance of industrial power shifting

• Last year, BASF's group revenues of €59.7 billion ($68.9 billion) were broadly neck and neck with the chemicals segment of China's Sinopec with 464 billion yuan ($68.5 billion) in operating revenues

• Also among the largest global players in the chemical industry, U.S. rival Dow had $40 billion in 2025 sales, while PetroChina's refining, chemicals and new materials division reported combined sales of 1,078 billion yuan ($159.18 billion)

• Kamieth highlighted BASF's struggle to slash greenhouse gas emissions in Europe: "The green transition is technically feasible. But making it economically viable is an incredibly challenging task"

(Reporting by Patricia Weiss, Writing by Ludwig Burger, Editing by Linda Pasquini)