Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products
Activities
NACE division 20 · 14 activities| Activity | Registrations | Starters, 12 months | Bankruptcies, 12 months | FTE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products20420 | 244 | 36 | 3 | 2,329 |
| Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products20590 | 230 | 8 | 0 | 7,610 |
| Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products20411 | 154 | 8 | 2 | 1,910 |
| Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products20160 | 138 | 6 | 0 | 4,644 |
| Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products20300 | 118 | 2 | 1 | 1,957 |
| Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products20140 | 106 | 0 | 0 | 13,045 |
| Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products20412 | 90 | 6 | 2 | 496 |
| Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products20150 | 73 | 1 | 1 | 1,752 |
| Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products20130 | 62 | 1 | 0 | 3,950 |
| Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products20110 | 42 | 1 | 0 | 3,272 |
| Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products20600 | 33 | 0 | 0 | 668 |
| Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products20200 | 32 | 0 | 0 | 1,690 |
Show all 14 activities
| Activity | Registrations | Starters, 12 months | Bankruptcies, 12 months | FTE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products20120 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 594 |
| Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products20170 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 69 |
Filed accounts
NACE division 20 · financial year 2025 · 760 filed annual accounts| Per financial year | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Median solvency | - | - | 41.9% | 42.9% | 43.0% | 42.8% | 44.4% | 46.1% |
| Median net result | - | - | €69,453 | €85,659 | €65,497 | €43,848 | €47,243 | €38,831 |
| Filed late | 28.4% | 36.2% | 28.9% | 32.9% | 29.9% | 27.7% | 26.5% | - |
Hold your customer's or competitor's figures against them in the Sector benchmark
Staff cost per FTE in NACE division 20
380 employers| Size | Median | Middle half | Employers |
|---|---|---|---|
| fewer than 10 FTE | €66,700 | €52,800 to €86,100 | 119 |
| 10 to 49 FTE | €82,500 | €65,300 to €102,400 | 125 |
| 50 to 249 FTE | €98,400 | €79,700 to €127,200 | 98 |
| 250 FTE or more | €143,800 | €120,400 to €155,000 | 38 |
Employers with the highest staff cost per FTE in this division All sectors by staff cost In the Analysis workbench
Bankruptcies
Bankruptcies per year in division 20
| Per year | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bankruptcies | 5 | 6 | 9 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 11 | 10 | 6 |
| Jobs lost | 177 | 7 | 23 | 36 | 86 | 191 | 3 | 8 | 4 | 148 | 12 | 54 |
2026 through June. Every bankruptcy, also of companies that have since left the register. Source: Statbel (Directorate-General Statistics), NACE classification of 2008.
Recent bankruptcies
| Date | Company |
|---|---|
| 28-10-2026 | Basin ChemEco
BE 0403.102.504 |
| 14-10-2026 | CHEMBO BEVIL SA
BE 0465.994.433 |
| 02-10-2026 | Darar Ali, Samar
BE 0804.272.332 · sole trader · Brussels |
| 02-07-2026 | LIQUIDES CONFIDENTIELS
BE 0698.859.957 |
| 13-05-2026 | LOCO PROJECTS
BE 0476.946.822 |
| 09-03-2026 | RECUPROCES INVESTMENT
BE 0825.429.616 |
| 27-02-2026 | LAMONT PRODUCTS
BE 0438.982.111 |
| 19-12-2025 | YAELYS
BE 0782.949.059 |
Spread across the country
by region and province · 1,013 of 1,262 enterprises with a registered office on file · a sole trader has no published seat- Flanders
- Wallonia
- Brussels
- Abroad
This sector's balance sheets on the map, by municipality and down to the address
Largest employers
NACE division 20 · staff from the latest accounts- 1 BASF AntwerpenAntwerp 3,641 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 2 UMICOREBrussels 3,209 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 3 Agfa-GevaertMortsel 1,420 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 4 SoudalTurnhout 1,148 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 5 PRAYONEngis 1,083 FTEfinancial year 2025
Joint committees
from the latest accounts of 490 companies- 207 White-collar workers in the chemical industry 393
- 116 Chemical industry 317
- 200 Auxiliary committee for white-collar workers 41
- 145 Horticulture 13
- 209 White-collar workers in metal manufacturing 12
- 100 Auxiliary committee for blue-collar workers 11
- 111 Metal, mechanical and electrical engineering 9
- 120 Textile industry 9
Show the 12 others
- 214 White-collar workers in the textile industry 9
- 220 White-collar workers in the food industry 9
- 118 Food industry 7
- 119 Food trade 6
- 124 Construction 6
- 140.03 Road transport and logistics for third parties 2
- 102.02 Quarries 1
- 102.09 Quarries 1
- 105 Non-ferrous metals 1
- 106 Cement industry 1
- 106.02 Concrete industry 1
- 109 Clothing and garment industry 1
Source: the annual accounts at the National Bank. One filing can name more than one committee.
Foreign control in NACE division 20
848 registered companiesMain parent countries: Netherlands (18), United States (15) and France (14).Show on the map by municipality
Subsidies in this sector
per register · legal entities with an enterprise number- Flemish subsidies €350.1m awarded
- Federal transfers 2.6m amount as published
- EU budget €607.9m attributed share
- EU research €64.6m EU contribution
Insights on Chemicals
Balance sheet and result. The median net result of €53,164 is above Belgium's €16,539. Return on equity of 8.0% is below Belgium's 15.9%. 29.4% of the annual accounts close with a loss, against 26.7% in Belgium.
Bankruptcies. The median bankruptcy probability of 0.3% is above Belgium's 0.2%. By size, the median bankruptcy probability is 0.4% at under 10 FTE, 0.1% at 10 to 49 FTE, 0.2% at 50 to 249 FTE and 0.3% at 250 FTE or more.
Inflow and structure. Half of the companies are younger than 15.2 years, against 8.1 years in Belgium. 19.6% of the companies are sole traders, against 41.6% in Belgium. In 12 months, 5.5 of 100 companies started, against 8.8 in Belgium. That is fewer than in 65% of the 86 other NACE divisions.
Staff and filing. The median staff cost per FTE of €84,689 is above Belgium's €61,416. 26.5% of the financial year 2024 accounts were filed late, against 38.4% in Belgium. The 5 largest employers hold 10,501 of the 43,987 FTE: 23.9%.
Direction. Median solvency rose from 41.9% in financial year 2020 to 46.1% in financial year 2025. The median net result fell from €69,453 in financial year 2020 to €38,831 in financial year 2025. In 2025, Statbel counted 10 bankruptcies and 12 jobs lost, against 7 bankruptcies in 2018.
The comparison with Belgium as a whole and with the other divisions is as of 05-11-2026 05:30.
Method and sources
Every company registered today counts under its main activities in the KBO. Establishment units do not count. Staff counts once, under the employer's first main activity, from its latest accounts and only where it fits the staff costs. The count follows the NACE 2025 classification, the version in which code 20 exists.
The bankruptcies over five years count only companies still registered today, because the activity of a company that left the register is not kept. So they are fewer than the bankruptcies of those years, and the figure is not a probability for the future. Over twelve months the count is nearly complete, because a bankrupt company stays registered while its bankruptcy runs. A company with more than one main activity counts in each of those sectors.
The comparison with Belgium as a whole and with the other NACE divisions rests on an overview of every division, counted again each night. Each division is counted in the version of the NACE classification in which it exists. A standing such as "more than in 80%" compares with the other divisions that have the figure. A division's bankruptcy probability is the median over its companies with a score. Belgium here counts the 1,275,887 companies with a main activity, because only those belong to a division. The other 699,448 registrations publish no activity.
Each median is the value of the middle company, computed over the annual accounts of financial year 2025, and is shown only from 30 accounts. A share (loss-making, negative equity) counts that year's accounts with that trait. Accounts are late when they are filed after the statutory deadline.