Chemicals and pharmaceuticals: Hessen’s strongest industry
With a total revenue of 28 billion euros, around 60,000 professionals and an export rate of 67%, chemicals and pharmaceuticals represent the strongest sector of Hessen’s economy in terms of employment, revenue and exports. Hessen is Germany’s pharmacy. Hessen offers good prospects in an interesting sector with a wide range of employment opportunities.
The chemical industry is one of Hessen’s most important economic sectors and employs around 60,000 people. The region is home to multinational companies like Merck, Allessa, Sanofi-Aventis and Clariant.
And with an export rate of around 67%, Hessen’s chemical industry is international in more ways than one. The region’s most important location for chemicals is in the west of Frankfurt: Around 22,000 people work at the Industriepark in Höchst. Over 90 of the 200 Hessian companies from the fields of chemicals, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, plant protection and food additives are located there. Darmstadt is another important location with around 12,000 workers.
High investments for research and development
A large amount of the sector’s revenue is generated from the raw materials required in other sectors and the chemical industry itself. However, the lion’s share of the revenue comes from pharmaceuticals. The chemical industry is the sector that spends the most amount of money on research and development. With an annual budget of around 2 billion euros, over a quarter of the money spent on the German chemical industry is spent in Hessen.
Major chemical and pharmaceutical companies in Hessen:
- Sanofi-Aventis
- Procter & Gamble
- Clariant
- DAW
- Merck
- Merz
- DuPont
- Fresenius
- Abbott
- Celanese
- Allessa GmbH and AllessaProduktion GmbH
- Evonik
- Lilly Pharma
- CLS Berhing
- K+S