Growth in EBITDA by 70% for Q2/2024! The chemical industry is in a bad state. Honestly?

Last week was incredible for a number of reasons.

First of all, Bangkok, Thailand, is a wonderful city, a very colorful place, with loads of influences and friendly people. It reminds me on other Asian countries here and there but it is still very different after all. And the food……wow.

Second, IFEAT - The International Federation of Essential Oils and Aroma Trades Annual Conference 2024 was a fantastic event with 1,700 participants and for me the best conference I ever attended. Very efficient for any kind of meeting, formal or informal, long or short and the location was just perfect. This will be the benchmark for the IFEAT conferences to come in the next years.

Third, my take-aways. By promoting my services as a self-employed consultant and agent, I recognized that I offer what customers ask for the most.

Identifying sustainable alternatives, escaping monopolist situations, bringing first-class services, providing integrity and reliability/accountability to relationship where other companies just failed to do so.

Finally, what hit me most was the difference in perception about the state of the world. What do I mean by this?

Well, coming (especially) from a German-speaking country, you can’t help but get the impression that everything gets worse, which in some industries is quite real. Right-wings are on the move, companies release herds of employees but talking about the chemical industry (and all related industries), the loudest voices are from those announcing the death of the Germany chemical industry. In fact, they use terms as “de-industrialization”.

And then you come across the following headlines of some of the biggest chemical companies in Germany:

• “Successful third quarter during economic crisis”
• “We have confirmed our preliminary results for Q2/2024 with significant growth in our EBITDA of almost 70%.”
• “The positive earnings momentum in our core businesses of the first half of 2024 continued in the third quarter, driven by higher volumes and margins.”

And while there is a clear transformation in the market with major shifts between regions, still “our” chemical industry is alive and well.

Now, coming back to Bangkok, I arrived with the contradictive and negative talk in my mind and arrived in such a positive atmosphere that I needed a day or two to get my head around it.

The niche of aroma-chemicals (also partly produced by the companies quoted above) is in a very good shape. Volumes are increasing, new players step in to bring more competition, outlooks are pretty promising. The players in the market are optimistic and move forward with lots of projects to make the products more sustainable; not only out of necessity but also to be able to differentiate from competitors.

For me this was a very clear signal to question (and fight) the negativity in my home market.

We must not badmouth ourselves!

We are able to innovate, able to perform, able to succeed!

It is more important than ever!

With the positive tailwind from IFEAT in Bangkok I did what is supposed to be my last business trip this year….to the cradle of perfumery in Southern France.

Let me tell you: this is the greatest industry I ever worked in.

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