1. United States:

The United States of America secures first position in the output of chemical products. The large agglomeration of chemical industries on an average provides more than 20 per cent of the world’s output. Even today, after the expansion of chemical industries in several other coun­tries, it is able to maintain its dominance all over the world. Several reasons are responsible for the supremacy of US chemical industries.

These are:

1.      High degree of industrial development and stable economy.

2.      The development of science and technology.

3.      Abundant raw material reserve.

4.      Steady demand of the products.

The distributional pattern of US chemical industries reveals that this industry is mostly diffused and scattered over entire United States. The largest agglomeration of chemical industries is visible in the northern states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee, Alabama, Virginia etc. Some industries often require products of other chemical industries.

This interdependence or symbiotic relationship between the chemical plants forced most of the industrial establishments to settle within the same region. The other reasons responsible for this higher concentration in those states are the presence of nearby market, excellent transport facilities and availability of all kinds of raw materials within their periphery.

Apart from these states, almost all other states have at least few chemical producing units. The Atlantic coastal tracts ranging from New York, New Jersey, Maryland to the south-eastern state of Florida contribute more than 70 per cent of the chemical output.

Of late, states of southern USA are heading for rapid development of chemical industry. The states like New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, and Oklahoma are progressing in such a way that, within a few decades these southern states may equal the production of the north-eastern states. Different states of the USA are now specializing on different products like Tennessee on fertilizer and Texas on petro-chemicals and Pennsylvania on heavy chemicals. Heavy chemical industry in USA is one of the oldest and most consistent in production among all others. Sulphuric acid production is, by far, most important both in output and demand. It is one of the basic raw materials used in other chemical industries throughout United States. The other important heavy chemical products are caustic soda, ammonia and chlorine. The major sulphuric acid producing states are Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Texas and Louisiana.

The ammonium products are manufactured in the northern states of Kentucky, West Virginia, Tennessee and Indiana. Soda ash is mostly produced in the states of Ohio, Michigan, New York, Virginia and Texas. Caustic Soda and chlorine is produced in the states of Ohio, Virginia, North and South Carolina and Georgia. All these heavy chemical products have a large and ready market throughout USA. The light chemical plants are the major buyer of these products.

Light chemical industry includes various products ranging from detergents, toilet products to pharmaceuticals. These products are secondary in nature and mostly produced from the basic or heavy chemical products. Several multinational giants control this industry in USA. The internationally famous companies are now operating from USA. The companies like Lever brothers, Colgate and several other detergent producers and Max Factor, Helene Curtis in toilet products dominate international market through several decades. All these factories are located within Atlantic coastal areas for export advantage. USA is also a leading producer of drugs and pharmaceuticals. It is the single largest pharma­ceutical producing country in the world. The large industries are located in the central part of USA, comprising the states of Oklahoma, Kansas, Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee and Ala­bama.

Petrochemical industry is a comparatively new addition in the chemical industry in USA, but its present shape and rate of expansion is really remarkable. Different plastics, P.V.C., synthetic rubber is produced in a large scale. The polymerization process, developed in USA during 70’s, revolutionized the concept of chemical industries. At present, USA contributes more than 10 per cent of the petro-chemical output of the world.

The country earns a sizable amount of revenue from the export of all kinds of chemical products. Fertilizer production in USA is an age-old industry. This country produces enormous amount of fertilizer, comprising NPK group and sulphur products. The eastern half of the country produces more than 80 per cent of the total fertilizer production in United States. The largest concentration of industries occur in a narrow strip running along Middle Atlantic States of North and South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama. The other noted producing areas are Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. United States exports considerable amount of nitrogen, phosphate and potash fertilizers.

2. CIS:

The heavy chemical industry is one of the most important and prestigious industry in Soviet Russia. The coordinated development of national industry is closely related with the growth of chemical industry. Though CIS is richly endowed with all the necessary raw materials for the development of chemical industry, it was poorly developed in Tsarist period. At that time only a few foreign companies had their unit in Russia. The early chemical producing centres were largely concen­trated around Moscow-Tula industrial centres, St. Petersburg and Ukraine region, including Donbas, Odessa.

At that time, fertilizer, acids, soda and other necessary products were insufficient in CIS. The perplexing fact is that, due to under-exploitation of mineral resources within the country, the country had to import raw materials like potassium, different salts and phosphates from Germany, Chile and Morocco.

During the plan period, special care was taken to improve heavy chemical industry. The mammoth industrialization of the country naturally boosted the demand of chemical goods, specially fertilizer, acid and soda. In the production of heavy chemical products like sulphuric acid, caustic soda and fertilizers, CIS is now the second largest producer in the world, next only to USA.

Distribution:

The most important fact about CIS chemical industry is its self-reliance on indigenous raw materials. The major products of chemical industry in CIS are plastic, rayon, nitrogen, synthetic dyes, rubber and acids.

The locational factors that played important role in the growth of the industry were:

1.     Presence of huge amount of raw materials within the national territory. CIS is self- sufficient in the production of potassium, apatite’s, phosphate, sulphur and almost all the salts. Production of these raw materials are also satisfactory.

2.     The vast market within the country. The huge demand of chemical products in other industries.

3.     Government patronage and provision of financial assistance.

Special care was taken for the decentralization of the industry even in the remotest places of CIS. The areas to become leading chemical producing centres are N Ukraine, Volga, Siberia, Urals, Armenia, Kazakhstan and Central Asia. Some of the industries preferred raw material location. The industries using coke and non- ferrous materials to produce nitrogen and potash fertilizers developed near Ukraine, West Siberia and Urals. The industries producing sulphuric acid were concentrated around Ukraine, Caucasia and Moscow-Gorky area.

The largest concentration of heavy chemical industry, however, occurred near petroleum producing areas. This type of industry has developed near Volga, Ukraine, Caucasus, Baku and Ural regions. The larger plants are located around Chernigov, Shchokino, Sumgait, Balkovo, Nevinnamysk etc. By a declaration of 23rd Congress of Communist Party in the plan period of 1966-70, country had undertaken a difficult task to double the production capacity. Some large plants were undertaken, others were modernized. The plants like Barnaul, Usolye, Omsk, Angarsh and Kemerovo expanded considerably. In Kazakhstan, a large plant was erected near Pavlodar. Rozdan, Mardue, and Kiviyli plants were constructed within Armenia and Estonia.

In different plan periods, at least 175 new chemical plants were established and more than 150 pre-existing plants were thoroughly modernized. The maximum number of chemical plants were located around Moscow, Leningrad, Kuznetsk. The Petroleum and gas based plants are located in Urals, Ukraine and Bukhara in Asia. Even as far as Omsk and Krasnoyarsk in Siberia became chemical producing centres in recent periods. The raw material based industries are located in Kola Peninsula and Berezniki on local apatite ore, Solikansk in potassium ore and Urals near phosphate ore. Donetz basin is famous for sodium chloride production. In recent years, however, growth of CIS chemical industry has to some extent stunted for national economic problems. The fragmentation of former Soviet Union and formation of loose confederation CIS and related political turmoil greatly disrupted growth of chemical industry.

3. Japan:

With the meteoric rise in all branches of industry in last couple of decades, Japan also made considerable progress in heavy chemical industry in recent years. The infra-structure and pro­ductivity of per worker is significantly higher than the European countries. It has been esti­mated that, in near future production of Japan may exceed even the productions of USA. The origin of heavy chemical industry in Japan is not very old. Only after First World War, Japan started to establish some of its chemical plants. But since then, rapid growth of this industry was very phenomenal. In the 40’s, Japan emerged as one of the leading chemical producing countries in the world.

During Second World War, most of the industries in Japan were completely devastated. Chemical industry was not the exception. The production of chemicals received a serious blow. But with herculean effort, Japan was able to rebuild its chemical industry within a very short period. Even before 1968, Japan surpassed its pre-war production level. Most of the Japanese chemical plants are either newly constructed or completely re-built, so output and productivity is very high. All the plants are new, modernized and automated. Japan is deficient in raw materials. More than 80 per cent of its factories are entirely dependent on imported raw materials. The only raw material abundant in Japan is sulphur, deposited extensively by volcanic eruptions. Most of the chemical plants in Japan are located within the industrial agglomerations of Osaka-Kobe, Tokyo-Yokohoma, Nagoya, Hemagi and Kyushu.

4. United Kingdom:

It is one of the oldest chemical-producing nations of the world. Though the relative share of UK in the world output is gradually declining, it still holds an important position in the world chemical production.

The major factors responsible for the early growth of the industry were:

1.      Huge good quality coal reserve at that time.

2.      Large salt, potash and petroleum by-products from oil refineries.

3.      Availability of cheap hydel and thermal power.

4.      Large market both at home and abroad.

The chemical industry in Britain is widely diffused. The leading producing centres are Lan­cashire, Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham, Yorkshire, etc.

5. Italy:

Italy is now considered as a leading producer of both light and heavy chemical products. The growth rate in the industry is quite high. Several reasons are responsible for the develop­ment of chemical industry in Italy.

These are:

1. The presence of vast amount of raw materials within the country, including lime­stone, dolomite, sulphur and potash.

2. The availability of cheap hydel power.

3. Good transport system and market facilities. The major chemical centres in Italy are Naples, Milan, Tarney, etc.

6. Germany:

Germany has the traditional supremacy in chemical production. The erstwhile West Ger­many was a consistent producer of several chemical products, including caustic soda, soda ash, nitric and sulphuric acids etc.

The major reasons for the high development of the industry in the country were:

1.      The economic stability and research facilities.

2.      Availability of several raw materials like salts, potash, limestone, dolomite, sulphur etc.

3.      Development of thermal power from the adjoining coal deposits.

4.      Extensive market facilities.

The major chemical industries are concentrated in Ruhr industrial agglomeration, Bavaria and Elbe area. Larger concentration occur in Munich, Frankfurt, Strassfurt etc.

7. France:

Of late, France has emerged as a leading chemical-producing nation. The strong industrial infra-structure, abundant coal reserve, high development of petroleum refinery industry, pres­ence of several raw materials, like salt, dolomite, limestone and potash, within the country has facilitated the growth of chemical industry in France. The industry is well-developed in regions of Lorraine, Marsai, Bordo etc.

8. China:

Chemical industry, as such, is a very new phenomenon in China. After the take-over of the Communists, proper emphasis was given to self-reliance in every industry. Only in the plan period after 1950, concerted efforts were given to develop Chinese chemical industry, specially heavy chemical industry.

Special care was taken to increase the production of caustic soda, soda ash, sulphuric acid, hydrochloric acid and nitric acid. The effort was so sincere that in last three decades production increased threefold. The major chemical-producing centres in China are located in its northern part. The urban centres of Nanking, Shanghai and Shantung contributes maximum of the chemical output. The other noted chemical factories are located at Manchuria, Fushun, Penki, Dairen and Anshan.

The largest of the plants are located at Manchuria. Some of the plants only specialize in the produc­tion of items, e.g. Dairen plant in soda ash, caustic soda, Mukden plant in Ammonium sulphate, urea and phosphatre products etc. Chungkiang in Yangstze valley is famous for the production of fertilizers.

9. India:

India is now one of the leading manufacturers of chemical products. The urban centres of Delhi, Calcutta, Madras, Bangalore, Kanpur, Ahmedabad are leading producing centres.

10. Other Countries:

In the present era, several other countries have developed their own chemical industry. The other leading producers are Spain, Belgium, Poland, Canada, Australia etc. Most of these coun­tries concentrated on the production of fertilizers, caustic soda, soda ash and different petro­chemical products.