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Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products

NACE 20140 · division 20 Chemicals
Current registrations 106division 20: 1,262
Employment (FTE) 13,04556 employers · latest accounts
Median age 29.3 yearsBelgium 8.1 years
E-invoicing via Peppol 89.6%95 of 106 companies in the Peppol Directory · Belgium 85.0%

No starter in the past twelve months. No bankruptcy in the past five years.

Your choice Sivry-Rance 20140 · Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products All of Belgium, every sector

This view shows Belgium · 20140 · Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products. Sector figures are national, so the place does not apply here.

Filed accounts

NACE 20140 · financial year 2025 · 87 filed annual accounts
Median solvency
50.3%
division 47.3% · Belgium 46.1%
Median net result
€824,661
division €51,480 · Belgium €16,490
Median equity
€12.5m
division €1.1m · Belgium €98,313
Loss-making
17.2%
division 29.6% · Belgium 26.7%
Negative equity
4.6%
division 13.5% · Belgium 12.4%
Median return on equity
7.5%
division 8.0% · Belgium 15.9%
Median liquidity
1.81
division 1.64 · Belgium 1.66
Filed late
13.7%
financial year 2024, 95 filings · division 26.5% · Belgium 38.4%
Missing or 90 days late
5.3%
of 94 companies with annual accounts · division 4.8% · Belgium 5.4%
Per financial year202020212022202320242025
Median solvency 44.3%48.5%53.2%51.7%51.5%50.3%
Median net result €756,655€1.4m€1.4m€948,095€933,058€824,661

Hold your customer's or competitor's figures against them in the Sector benchmark

Spread across the country

by region and province · 105 of 106 enterprises with a registered office on file · a sole trader has no published seat
  • Flanders 60 · 57.1%
  • Wallonia 27 · 25.7%
  • Brussels 8 · 7.6%
  • Abroad 10 · 9.5%
fewer moremax 20

Largest employers

NACE 20140 as first main activity · staff from the latest accounts
  1. 1 BASF AntwerpenAntwerp 3,641 FTEfinancial year 2025
  2. 2 UMICOREBrussels 3,209 FTEfinancial year 2025
  3. 3 OLEONEvergem 571 FTEfinancial year 2024
  4. 4 VYNOVA BELGIUMTessenderlo-Ham 553 FTEfinancial year 2024
  5. 5 CAPSUGEL BELGIUMBornem 474 FTEfinancial year 2025

Joint committees

from the latest accounts of 77 companies
  • 207 White-collar workers in the chemical industry 62
  • 116 Chemical industry 49
  • 220 White-collar workers in the food industry 7
  • 200 Auxiliary committee for white-collar workers 6
  • 118 Food industry 5
  • 124 Construction 2
  • 100 Auxiliary committee for blue-collar workers 1
  • 105 Non-ferrous metals 1
Show the 3 others
  • 145 Horticulture 1
  • 202.01 Medium-sized food businesses 1
  • 224 White-collar workers in non-ferrous metals 1

Source: the annual accounts at the National Bank. One filing can name more than one committee.

Division 20: Chemicals

Related activities

6 other activities

Bankruptcies per year in division 20

Per year201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026
Bankruptcies56975536311106
Jobs lost17772336861913841481254

2026 through June. Every bankruptcy, also of companies that have since left the register. Source: Statbel (Directorate-General Statistics), NACE classification of 2008.

Staff cost per FTE in NACE division 20

381 employers
Median
€84,700
Belgium €61,400
Middle half
€66,300 to €116,800
half of the employers lie between
Place among sectors
8 of 78
sectors with a median staff cost per FTE, highest first
By size class
SizeMedianMiddle halfEmployers
fewer than 10 FTE €66,700 €53,100 to €85,300 120
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

Foreign control in NACE division 20

848 registered companies

Subsidies in this sector

per register · legal entities with an enterprise number
  • Flemish subsidies €350.1m awarded 268 recipients · 2022 to 2025 · largest: Subsidie voor bedrijven ter compensatie van indirecte emissiekosten
  • Federal transfers 2.6m amount as published 4 recipients · 2023 to 2025 · largest: Subsidies voor de verbetering van telecommunicatieconnectiviteit
  • EU budget €607.9m attributed share 19 recipients · 2021 to 2025 · largest: Innovation Fund
  • EU research €64.4m EU contribution 43 recipients · 2008 to 2027 · largest: Horizon 2020

Explore every recipient in this sector

Insights on Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products

Balance sheet and result. The median net result of €824,661 is above Belgium's €16,490. 4.6% of the annual accounts show negative equity, against 12.4% in Belgium. Return on equity of 7.5% is below Belgium's 15.9%.

Bankruptcies. The median bankruptcy probability of 0.2% is below Belgium's 0.2%.

Inflow and structure. Half of the companies are younger than 29.3 years, against 8.1 years in Belgium. 0.0% of the companies are sole traders, against 41.6% in Belgium. Wallonia holds 28.4% of the seats, against 22.7% in Belgium.

Staff and filing. 13.7% of the financial year 2024 accounts were filed late, against 38.4% in Belgium. The 5 largest employers hold 8,448 of the 13,045 FTE: 64.8%.

Direction. Median solvency rose from 44.3% in financial year 2020 to 50.3% in financial year 2025.

The comparison with Belgium as a whole and with the other divisions is as of 11-11-2026 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 20140 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 1,276,472 companies with a main activity, because only those belong to a division. The other 699,781 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. The direction per financial year follows the companies still registered today. Missing or 90 days late counts the companies with accounts missing today, or whose latest were filed more than 90 days after the deadline. The dossier follows the same rule.