Basic Materials

Basic Materials

Basic Materials

Ticker Company Name Currency Market Cap
in Bln
Dividend Yield
YARIY Yara International ASA !Data distorted by stock split 2:1 on April 17, 2018. USD 8.03 8.22%
1COV Covestro AG EUR 9.48 0%
EVK Evonik Industries AG EUR 8.57 6.36%
NHY Norsk Hydro ASA NOK 119.51 4.21%
UMI Umicore NV EUR 4.97 3.97%
SY1 Symrise AG EUR 15.31 1%
RPL UPM Kymmene Oyj EUR 16.44 4.87%
AKZA Akzo Nobel N.V. EUR 12.8 2.82%
DSM Koninklijke DSM NV EUR 19.73 2.19%
BBL BHP Group PLC USD 162.41 23.15%
NGLOY Anglo American PLC USD 33.05 4.12%
LYB LyondellBasell Industries NV USD 34.39 4.08%
RIO Rio Tinto PLC USD 102.81 8.78%
GLNCY Glencore PLC USD 77.55 0%
LIN Linde PLC USD 244.71 0.83%
BAYN Bayer AG EUR 28.01 7.02%
BAS BASF SE EUR 48.95 6.19%
AI Air Liquide S.A. EUR 91.45 1.42%

Basic Materials Industry

The basic materials consist of the following main groups of materials.

  • Various types of metals, including iron ore, copper, steel, aluminum, gold, silver, palladium and many others;
  • Timber and forest products;
  • Chemicals.

Oil, natural gas and coal are also basic materials, but they belong to the Oil&Gas industry.

There are many countries relying in their prosperity on the sources of basic materials. For example, South Africa is known for its gold and platinum mines whereas Brazil and Russia have huge timber reserves.

Companies in the industry explore, extract and refine basic materials before delivering them to customers. It involves capital-intensive projects and current low interest rate environment is accommodative to them. Companies in this industry produce construction materials, paper, packaging products, glass, steel and many other products.

The prices of basic materials are determined by the supply and demand. Basic materials are the raw materials for a production of consumer goods. So, if the demand for consumer goods falls or rises, the demand for basic materials follows the route. The demand for consumer goods, in turn, depends on the health of the global economy. So, any possible major economic downturn makes companies in the basic materials industry less attractive to investors.

Sectors of the Industry

According to the Industry Classification Benchmark (ICB), Basic Materials industry consists of the following sectors.

Supersector

Sector

Subsector

Chemicals Chemicals Commodity Chemicals

Specialty Chemicals

Basic Resources

 

Forestry & Paper

 

Forestry

Paper

Industrial Metals & Mining

 

Aluminum

Non-Ferrous Metals

Iron & Steel

Mining Coal

Diamonds & Gemstones

General Mining

Gold Mining

Platinum & Precious Metals