Benzene
Market, Supplier, Risk and
Competitive Intelligence

Industry Outlook & Drivers

Benzene Global Market Outlook:

MARKET OVERVIEW: Global Benzene Market Size: $67.9 billion (2019)
Expected to grow at a CAGR of 2.0 percent (2017-2024 F)

Porter's Analysis on Benzene (NA and Europe)

Supplier Power

• Aromatics comes predominantly as a by-product in crude refining in the western markets: Production of benzene is quite low in the West as against Asia, where BTX units are set up.

• Benzene is mainly produced as a co-product in refinery gasoline stream and during production of steel as COLO. So, the industry is technically backward integrated, which results in complete control over the supply chain

Barriers to New Entrants

• Huge capital cost on the back of changing feedstock dynamics, due to the shale gas advent: Barrier for entrant is higher, due to the high capital cost involved in plant set up. The US has shifted to gas-based setup, which puts the benzene sector at a disadvantage

Intensity of Rivalry

• Integrated facilities and import dependency: Comparatively, consolidated industry with complete control over the value chain starting from crude oil or naphtha
• However, availability of material from Asia adds to the supply options for buyers, thus increasing the rivalry among domestic producers for the market share

Threat of Substitutes

• There are no substitutes available for benzene in the derivative markets

Buyer Power

• Buying power is low for small volume buyer (personal care product manufacturers): Mostly, benzene producers are forward integrated with high demand derivatives, like styrene and cumene. Thus, benzene availability for other niche segments remains tight

• For instance, personal care and pharma- grade benzene command only about 2–3 percent of the total benzene demand, and so, the buyer power is very low