The chemical distribution business is a diverse industry that provides customized solutions for important sectors such as pharmaceuticals, paints & coatings, agriculture, cosmetics, food & feed, and automotive. At the center of the supply chains of these sectors, distributors are critical partners for global corporations as well as for SMEs. This role has become particularly obvious and relevant during the corona crisis. But distributors also face many challenges in the aftermath of the pandemic and the current political and economic environment.

CHEManager asked executives and industry experts to share their views on the prospects for the chemical distribution sector. We proposed to discuss the following aspects:

• What, in your opinion, are the most important lessons learned after two years of operating in a pandemic environment?
• What will be the most important short- and long-term challenges facing the sector?
• How do chemical distributors support the chemical industry on its path toward carbon neutrality?

Christopher Erbslöh: Removing a link from any structure will make it more unstable and the past two and a half years have very vividly demonstrated to the entire chemical sector how valuable distributors are in linking supply and demand. This is why we collectively need to understand that partnership and collaboration work better than individuality, and that this will create a more stable and profitable future for all of us in the long run. Distributors like C.H. Erbslöh and the LEL Alliance can offer more than technical innovation on the one side and a better price on the other. We can find solutions, offering technical answers to tackle issues ranging from local marketing needs to global climate change and carbon neutrality, while maintaining a transparent and robust supply-chain, allowing both manufacturers and customers to react to short-term volatility.

“The past two and a half years have demon­strated how
valu­able distributors are in linking supply and demand.“