Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products
Filed accounts
NACE 20300 · financial year 2025 · 97 filed annual accounts| Per financial year | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Median solvency | 40.8% | 45.3% | 47.3% | 46.3% | 51.6% | 53.1% |
| Median net result | €100,782 | €106,581 | €75,680 | €50,544 | €86,490 | €61,027 |
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Bankruptcies
Recent bankruptcies
| Date | Company |
|---|---|
| 28-10-2026 | Basin ChemEco
BE 0403.102.504 |
| 16-01-2024 | FLRX
BE 0732.590.421 |
Spread across the country
by region and province · 114 of 118 enterprises with a registered office on file · a sole trader has no published seat- Flanders
- Wallonia
- Brussels
- Abroad
The balance sheets of division 20 on the map, by municipality and down to the address
Largest employers
NACE 20300 as first main activity · staff from the latest accounts- 1 AKZO NOBEL PAINTS BELGIUMVilvoorde 300 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 2 MARTIN MATHYSHalen 173 FTEfinancial year 2026
- 3 DL Chemicals Detaellenaere-LoosveltWaregem 144 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 4 CHEMOURS BELGIUMBeveren 130 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 5 LAWTER EUROPEBeveren-Kruibeke-Zwijndrecht 126 FTEfinancial year 2025
Joint committees
from the latest accounts of 60 companies- 207 White-collar workers in the chemical industry 56
- 116 Chemical industry 51
- 200 Auxiliary committee for white-collar workers 3
- 100 Auxiliary committee for blue-collar workers 1
- 109 Clothing and garment industry 1
- 124 Construction 1
Source: the annual accounts at the National Bank. One filing can name more than one committee.
Division 20: Chemicals
Related activities
13 other 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 | 7,611 |
| 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 products20140 | 106 | 0 | 0 | 13,045 |
| Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products20412 | 90 | 6 | 2 | 496 |
Show all 13 activities
| Activity | Registrations | Starters, 12 months | Bankruptcies, 12 months | FTE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products20120 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 594 |
| Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products20170 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 69 |
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.
Staff cost per FTE in NACE division 20
381 employers| Size | Median | Middle half | Employers |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
Employers with the highest staff cost per FTE in this division All sectors by staff cost In the Analysis workbench
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 €64.4m EU contribution
Insights on Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products
Balance sheet and result. The median net result of €61,027 is above Belgium's €16,497. Return on equity of 8.9% is below Belgium's 15.9%. 7.2% of the annual accounts show negative equity, against 12.4% in Belgium.
Bankruptcies. The median bankruptcy probability of 0.1% is below Belgium's 0.2%.
Inflow and structure. Half of the companies are younger than 24.8 years, against 8.1 years in Belgium. 3.4% of the companies are sole traders, against 41.6% in Belgium. This activity holds 9.4% of the registrations of Chemicals.
Staff and filing. 28.3% of the financial year 2024 accounts were filed late, against 38.4% in Belgium. The 5 largest employers hold 873 of the 1,957 FTE: 44.6%.
Direction. Median solvency rose from 40.8% in financial year 2020 to 53.1% in financial year 2025. The median net result fell from €100,782 in financial year 2020 to €61,027 in financial year 2025.
The comparison with Belgium as a whole and with the other divisions is as of 09-11-2026 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 20300 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 1,276,461 companies with a main activity, because only those belong to a division. The other 699,442 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.