Business Segments

Since January 1, 2019, BASF’s eleven divisions are grouped into six segments: Chemicals, Materials, Industrial Solutions, Surface Technologies, Nutrition & Care and Agricultural Solutions. This segment structure sharpens our portfolio and increases transparency.

Businesses are clustered to improve customer experience and to fully realize Verbund synergies as exemplified by the “connectors” in the graphic below:

We develop our production processes using a central R&D platform. As a result, plants in different businesses can benefit from the experiences of others.
Catalysis is a core technology that is fundamental to more than 90% of our production.
We have unique formulation know-how that is used in many businesses and allows us to support customers.
Biosciences and the markets for nutritional products combine elements of the Nutrition & Care segment and the Agricultural Solutions segment.
In many cases, different businesses supply the same customer industry. The most prominent example is the automotive industry.
We are building up a Digital Verbund to harvest advantages from the vast amount of data we collect across all segments.

Information on the business development of the segments in 2020, including impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, can be found in BASF’s quarterly statements.

¹ Since the signing of a divestment agreement, Construction Chemicals is reported as a discontinued operation and the respective assets are reported under Other

Key facts

6 segments comprising 11 operating divisions with 76 strategic business units
Our portfolio ranges from basic petrochemicals to agricultural solutions
The divisions and strategic business units are organized according to business models and value chains
In around 70% of our businesses, we are in one of the top three market positions

Key figures

Percentage 2019		Sales	EBITDA bsi
Chemicals	Petrochemicals Intermediates	16%	17%
Materials	Performance Materials Monomers	20%	22%
Industrial Solutions	Dispersions & Pigments Performance Chemicals	14%	18%
Surface Technologies	Catalysts Coatings	22%	15%
Nutrition & Care	Care Chemicals Nutrition & Health	10%	17%
Agricultural Solutions	Agricultural Solutions	13%	24%
Other		5%	(13%)

Organization of the BASF Group

BASF’s segment structure allows for a differentiated steering of our businesses according to their market-specific competitive environment. It increases transparency regarding the results of our segments and divisions and highlights the importance of the Verbund and value chains to our business success. BASF aims to clearly position its businesses against their relevant competitors and establish a high-performance organization to enable BASF to be successful in an increasingly competitive market environment.

The Chemicals segment comprises the Petrochemicals and Intermediates divisions and is the cornerstone of BASF’s Verbund structure. It supplies the other segments with basic chemicals and intermediates, contributing to the organic growth of our key value chains. Alongside internal transfers, customers include the chemical and plastics industries. The segment’s competitiveness is strengthened by technological leadership and operational excellence.

The Materials segment is composed of the Performance Materials division and the Monomers division. The segment offers advanced materials and their precursors for new applications and systems. Its product portfolio includes isocyanates and polyamides as well as inorganic basic products and specialties for plastics and plastics processing.

The Industrial Solutions segment consists of the Dispersions & Pigments and the Performance Chemicals divisions. The segment develops and markets ingredients and additives for industrial applications, such as polymer dispersions, pigments, resins, electronic materials, antioxidants and additives. Its customers come from key industries such as automotive, plastics and electronics.

The Surface Technologies segment bundles chemical solutions for surfaces with the Catalysts and Coatings divisions. Its product spectrum includes catalysts and battery materials for the automotive and chemical industries, surface treatments, colors and coatings.

The Nutrition & Care segment comprises the Care Chemicals division and the Nutrition & Health division. The segment produces ingredients and solutions for consumer applications in the areas of nutrition, home and personal care. Its customers include food and feed producers as well as the pharmaceutical, cosmetics, detergent and cleaner industries.

The Agricultural Solutions segment consists of the division of the same name. As an integrated provider, its portfolio comprises fungicides, herbicides, insecticides and biological crop protection products, as well as seeds and seed treatment products. Furthermore, Agricultural Solutions offers farmers innovative solutions, including those based on digital technologies, combined with practical advice.

Activities that are not allocated to any of the segments are recorded under Other. These include other businesses, which comprise commodity trading, engineering and other services, as well as rental income and leases. Discontinued operations and all remaining activities after divestitures not previously reported under Other have also been reported here since January 1, 2019.

Some of the investments accounted for using the equity method are not an integral part of the BASF Group. These include, in particular, the shares in Wintershall Dea GmbH, Kassel/Hamburg, Germany, and Solenis UK International Ltd., London, United Kingdom. To increase reporting transparency, these are classified since January 2020 as purely financial investments and reported separately from the shareholdings that are integral to the main business activities of the BASF Group. One material equity-accounted interest that has been classified as integral is BASF-YPC Company Ltd., Nanjing, China. Consequently, in the future, income from non-integral companies accounted for using the equity method will no longer be presented in the BASF Group’s EBIT and EBIT before special items (reported under “Other”), but under net income from shareholdings. Due to its increased significance, this will be presented as a separate subtotal within income before income taxes and is no longer part of the financial result. Integral and non-integral investments accounted for using the equity method will also be shown separately in the balance sheet. The statement of income for 2019 has been restated accordingly.