KFair Shows a Positive Outlook in the Chemical Sector despite Uncertainty
by Richard Pitts, Principal at Miramar Global
After three years on hold, the recent KFair event (Dusseldorf, 19th – 26th October ’22) provided just the opportunity for global leaders in the plastics and rubber industries to explore, negotiate and secure new deals face to face, despite the tumultuous global markets with over 170,000 visitors through the door from 157 nations. Following our intense 3-day stint at the trade fair Miramar had the following take aways;
– All investment decisions are continuing to be underpinned by a continued sustainability and circularity drive with companies focussing on decarbonising their asset bases, manufacturing biobased products eg Braskem or building a dedicated sustainability BU/function eg LyondellBasell recently announcing the formation of a new Circular & Low Carbon Solution Business Unit
– Continued push on hiring diverse talent. Gender diversity is still a massive theme, however diversity of thought is also coming more to the fore. Companies are not so rigid in acquiring talent from competitors – they are looking up and down the value chain, and even analogous sectors
– There continues to be a real talent drain at the operational level within European chemical/petrochemical manufacturing sites – particularly at the level of operators and process engineers
– A lot of integration is continuing to play out following a number of high-profile acquisition and divestments in the specialty chemicals sector eg Avient, Clariant, Trinseo. Within such companies the organogram is in flux at the leadership level
In summary, the uncertainty in global markets and the headwinds continue but companies are pressing on regardless and we only spoke to a few clients pausing their growth activities due to this downturn. There is continued optimism despite what the markets are doing
We look forward to seeing you at the next K in October 2025.
