commodity chemicals

{{short description|Group of industrial chemical compounds}}

Commodity chemicals (or bulk commodities or bulk chemicals) are a group of chemicals that are made on a very large scale to satisfy global markets. The average prices of commodity chemicals are regularly published in the chemical trade magazines and web sites such as [http://www.chemweek.com Chemical Week] and [http://www.icis.com/ ICIS]. There have been several studies of the scale and complexity of this market for example in the USA.{{cite report|last1= Soltz|publisher=UNITED STATES INTERNATIONAL TRADE COMMISSION|url=http://www.usitc.gov/publications/332/pub3590.pdf|title=Industry Trade & Summary: Organic Commodity Chemicals|date=2003|display-authors=etal}}{{cite report|last1=McFarlane |last2= Robinson|title=SURVEY OF ALTERNATIVE FEEDSTOCKS FOR COMMODITY CHEMICAL MANUFACTURING|url=http://cepac.cheme.cmu.edu/pasi2011/library/cremaschi/Survey_of_alternative_feedstocks_for_the_chemical_industry.pdf|date=5 March 2007}}

Commodity chemicals are a sub-sector of the chemical industry (other sub sectors are fine chemicals, specialty chemicals, inorganic chemicals, petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, renewable energy (e.g. biofuels) and materials (e.g. biopolymers)). Commodity chemicals are differentiated primarily by the bulk of their manufacture.