# Surfactants: Production

Why consumer giants make their own cleaning molecules

Source page: https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/surfactants/production/

What this tab covers Who makes it and how much: world capacity and output, utilisation, the top producing countries and companies globally and in India, concentration, new capacity coming, and each region's position.

| Measure | Figure | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| **World capacity** | not published globally |  | no public capacity total |
| **World output** | about 17-20 Mt excluding soap (indicative) |  | derived from lab and ethylene_oxide tiles |
| **Capacity utilisation** | not published | Sulphonation and ethoxylation capacity is generally ample; constraints come from feedstocks (LAB in India, fatty alcohol, EO). Galaxy guided 6-8% volume growth but volumes were flat in FY26. | Galaxy Surfactants Q3 FY26 call; Construction World May 2026 |
| **Concentration** | fragmented: no top-5 share published | Large captive producers (Unilever, P&G, Henkel, Kao) sit alongside merchant suppliers (BASF, Dow, Nouryon, Clariant, Stepan, Sasol, Croda, Galaxy). | indicative |
| **New capacity** | LAB: TPL +25 kt (2026), IOC +20 kt (lab tile); new fatty alcohol plants referenced by Galaxy management | Biosurfactant scale-up in Europe (rhamnolipids, sophorolipids) is small (indicative). | lab tile; Galaxy Q3 FY26 call |

#### Top producing countries

- **China**: largest producer and consumer (indicative); Asia-Pacific is more than a third of the market
- **United States**: Stepan, Dow, P&G captive (indicative)
- **Western Europe**: BASF, Clariant, Croda, Evonik, Sasol (Germany, Italy) (indicative)
- **India**: LAB 550 kt capacity (2020); net LAS exporter; Galaxy, Aarti Surfactants, Godrej, India Glycols
- **Indonesia and Malaysia**: oleochemical base for fatty alcohols and MES from palm kernel oil
- **Philippines**: coconut-based fatty alcohols and CAPB feed (Philippines 38.8% of coconut oil)
 Ceresana Jan 2025; indicative; lab tile; palm_oil tile (indicative); coconut tile (FAOSTAT 2023)

#### Largest producers: global

| Company | Country | Volume | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| **BASF (Care Chemicals)** broad anionic, non-ionic and glucoside range (indicative) | Germany | not published | 2025 | not published in sources reached |
| **Dow** integrated EO and ethoxylates (indicative) | US | not published | 2025 | not published in sources reached |
| **Stepan** largest merchant anionic sulphonator (indicative) | US | not published | 2025 | not published in sources reached |
| **Sasol** Ziegler and Fischer-Tropsch alcohols, LAB (lab tile) | South Africa | not published | 2025 | not published in sources reached |
| **Clariant** ethoxylates and specialty surfactants (indicative) | Switzerland | not published | 2025 | not published in sources reached |
| **Kao** oleochemical fatty alcohols and surfactants (indicative) | Japan | not published | 2025 | not published in sources reached |
| **Galaxy Surfactants** performance surfactants Rs 33,408 mn; specialty care Rs 19,296 mn | India | 52,704 Rs million revenue | FY2026 | [Construction World, 18 May 2026](https://www.constructionworld.in/policy-updates-and-economic-news/galaxy-surfactants-posts-fy26-results-with-specialty-growth/91788) |

#### Largest producers: India

| Company | Country | Volume | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| **Galaxy Surfactants** tonnage not disclosed; derived | India | 255 kt sold (derived: Rs 4,974 mn EBITDA / about Rs 19,500 per t) | FY2026 | [Construction World May 2026; Galaxy Q3 FY26 transcript (EBITDA per t)](https://nsearchives.nseindia.com/corporate/GALAXYSURF_23022026161107_transcriptq326ds.pdf) |
| **Aarti Surfactants** SLES, CAPB and personal-care surfactants; demerged from Aarti Industries (indicative) | India | not published | 2026 | not retrieved |
| **Godrej Industries (Chemicals)** fatty alcohols and surfactants (indicative) | India | not published | 2026 | not retrieved |
| **India Glycols** bio-based EO and ethoxylates from molasses ethanol (indicative) | India | not published | 2026 | not retrieved |
| **Reliance Industries, IOC, Tamilnadu Petroproducts, Nirma** LAB feed for LAS; Nirma and HUL sulphonate captively (indicative) | India | 550 kt/yr LAB capacity (four producers, 2020) | 2020 | [lab tile (Chemical Week Jan 2023)](https://chemweek.mydigitalpublication.com/articles/india-driving-lab-demand-growth) |

India imported 44% of its LAB in 2020 but is a net exporter of LAS. Galaxy Surfactants supplies global personal-care brands from India, Egypt and the US; its India volumes grew low single digits in FY26. Fatty alcohols rely on imported palm kernel and coconut oil, though India grows about 31% of the world's coconuts (coconut tile).

#### Position by region

| Region | Position |
|---|---|
| **US** | Large merchant producers (Stepan, Dow); tariffs on Indian exports cut from 50% to 18% in early 2026. |
| **EU** | Detergents Regulation biodegradability rules; EU-India FTA expected to remove 4-6% duties on Indian surfactants. |
| **India** | Net LAS exporter but LAB importer; Galaxy a global specialty supplier; palm and coconut oil imports. |
| **China** | Largest market; integrated EO and LAB capacity. |
| **Japan** | Kao and Lion; oleochemical-based. |
| **Middle East** | LAB exporter (Farabi, Qatar, Iran) and growing detergent demand; the Egyptian pound weakened from about 15-16 to about 45 per dollar, hurting AMET volumes (Galaxy Q3 FY26 call). |

## Other sections

- [Summary](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/surfactants/index.md)
- [Overview](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/surfactants/overview/index.md)
- [Correlation](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/surfactants/correlation/index.md)
- [Production route](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/surfactants/routes/index.md)
- [Feedstocks](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/surfactants/feedstocks/index.md)
- [Cycles](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/surfactants/cycles/index.md)
- [Trading](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/surfactants/trading/index.md)
- [Movement](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/surfactants/movement/index.md)
- [Regulation](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/surfactants/regulation/index.md)
- [Characteristics](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/surfactants/characteristics/index.md)
- [Emissions](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/surfactants/emissions/index.md)
- [Relationships](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/surfactants/links/index.md)