What is a chemical distributor?
The term "chemical dealer" or "raw material dealer" has many different interpretations in the global chemical industry. In the world list of chemical dealers, the term is defined by companies that meet the following criteria:
Ownership of the chemicals and ingredients they sell
Chemical, ingredient and raw material distributors and traders are companies that have ownership of the chemical substances or ingredients and / or cause the products to enter the market. Distributors usually sell and distribute inventory goods directly and invoice customers. Sometimes distributors can also earn commissions from sales delivered directly by the manufacturer as agents (or subscribers).
Third party agent is the core business activity of an enterprise
To be classified as a chemical distributor, the company must also be able to demonstrate that the agency or distribution of products on behalf of many third-party chemical producers ("principals or suppliers") is a core business activity.
Distribute raw materials rather than finished products
Chemical dealers who supply chemicals, raw materials and other raw materials used to produce formula products or finished products are generally included in this catalogue. However, distributors or wholesalers who supply formula products or manufactured products are not usually included. For example, chemical distributors supplying raw materials to paint manufacturers will be included, but not paint distributors or wholesalers. Similarly, distributors of API (active drug components) will be included, but distributors of FDF (finished formulations) drugs will be excluded.
Owned manufactured products
Companies that produce and distribute their own chemical products only are not included (for example, manufacturers with local sales offices or subsidiaries that sell and distribute their products only). However, some chemical dealers are also involved in production activities. Chemical production is included as long as it does not exceed 25% of the total sales and complements the company's core chemical distribution activities, such as mixing, deployment, formula operation, etc. Chemical production based on "reactive chemistry" (i.e. production of new chemicals or substances from raw materials) is generally not discounted.
Specialized agency business
It includes important and sizeable chemical institutions (representing multiple producers), but does not include a large number of single institutions in some parts of the global chemical industry. Many of them are dedicated to a particular producer, so they should be more regarded as the extension of the principal sales organization rather than the real supply chain intermediary.
Potential exceptions
Chemical and raw material distributors offer a very diverse range of products for a variety of end-use markets. To some extent, we also extend the scope of chemical or ingredient distributors to companies that focus only on the distribution of single products (such as polymers), or those that focus on distributing ingredients to a single market (such as food). However, this can sometimes be unusual, so we sometimes exclude distributors of food ingredients that provide only "non synthetic" ingredients, such as dried fruit or seeds or major forms of animal products. We do not believe that products like this are in line with the spirit and type of Companies in the catalog, and we are trying to promote collective as a global chemical dealer catalog.
