Reagents and high-purity lab chemicals
High-purity chemicals, solvents, biochemicals and reference standards for laboratories; a $31 billion market led by Merck KGaA, Thermo Fisher and Avantor.
Fine chemicals · Other fine chemicals · No. 104
- Product family
- not published (small tonnage; sold in grams to drums)
- HS 382200
In a bottle of lab-grade solvent, the glass, testing and certificate can cost more than the chemical inside.
Chart: Illustration: Reagents and high-purity lab chemicals
Where it comes from
Chart: Map of where it comes from
Most reagents start as ordinary bulk chemicals that are purified, tested lot by lot and packed with a certificate, feeding a market worth $30.87 billion in 2025.
Three things to know
- Merck KGaA, Thermo Fisher and Avantor together hold an estimated 22-31% of the market's revenue.
- Universities and research institutes are the biggest buyers, accounting for about 33% of demand.
- Asia-Pacific is the fastest-growing region at about 5% a year, and China makes up 38.2% of it.
The journey
- 1 Commodity chemicalBulk acids, salts and solvents bought in
- 2 PurificationDistilled, recrystallised or filtered to 0.2 micron
- 3 Lot testingChecked against ACS, pharmacopoeia or ISO standards
- 4 PackagingGlass bottles, ampoules or dry-ice cold packs
- 5 DistributionCatalogues and distributors reach labs worldwide