Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products
No bankruptcy in the past twelve months.
Filed accounts
NACE 20590 · financial year 2025 · 162 filed annual accounts| Per financial year | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Median solvency | 42.1% | 46.3% | 45.3% | 50.5% | 48.7% | 50.1% |
| Median net result | €102,704 | €134,604 | €129,082 | €93,759 | €101,579 | €109,846 |
Hold your customer's or competitor's figures against them in the Sector benchmark
Bankruptcies
Recent bankruptcies
| Date | Company |
|---|---|
| 28-04-2025 | Aluminium Concept
BE 0432.259.714 |
| 18-04-2024 | ADCOS
BE 0867.295.905 |
| 09-11-2022 | AUTOMOTIVE PAINTSHOP SOLVENTS
BE 0551.985.923 |
| 30-03-2022 | LS Old co
BE 0413.465.171 |
Spread across the country
by region and province · 215 of 230 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 20590 as first main activity · staff from the latest accounts- 1 Agfa-GevaertMortsel 1,420 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 2 SoudalTurnhout 1,148 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 3 TamincoGhent 405 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 4 AGFAMortsel 247 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 5 RECTICELBrussels 227 FTEfinancial year 2025
Joint committees
from the latest accounts of 115 companies- 207 White-collar workers in the chemical industry 102
- 116 Chemical industry 77
- 200 Auxiliary committee for white-collar workers 6
- 100 Auxiliary committee for blue-collar workers 3
- 111 Metal, mechanical and electrical engineering 2
- 209 White-collar workers in metal manufacturing 2
- 118 Food industry 1
- 127 Fuel trade 1
Show the 3 others
- 149.04 Metal trade 1
- 201 Independent retail 1
- 220 White-collar workers in the food industry 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 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 |
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 €109,846 is above Belgium's €16,497. Return on equity of 10.3% is below Belgium's 15.9%. 9.9% of the annual accounts show negative equity, against 12.4% in Belgium.
Inflow and structure. Half of the companies are younger than 23.3 years, against 8.1 years in Belgium. 6.1% of the companies are sole traders, against 41.6% in Belgium. In 12 months, 3.5 of 100 companies started, against 8.9 in Belgium. That is fewer than in 83% of the 87 NACE divisions.
Staff and filing. 24.4% of the financial year 2024 accounts were filed late, against 38.4% in Belgium. The 5 largest employers hold 3,447 of the 7,611 FTE: 45.3%.
Direction. Median solvency rose from 42.1% in financial year 2020 to 50.1% 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 20590 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.