Braskem SA

BOVESPA:BRKM5

Business Description

Sector

Materials

Industry

Chemicals

Headquarters

Brazil BR

Employees

8 233

IPO date

Dec 18, 1978

Braskem is one of Latin America’s biggest petrochemical companies. It makes the basic building blocks used to turn plastic into finished products, including polyethylene, polypropylene, PVC, and other chemical feedstocks. It also produces a well-known bio-based plastic made from sugarcane ethanol, which gives it a role in both fossil-based and renewable materials.

Its customers are mainly manufacturers that buy resin and chemical inputs and then convert them into packaging, bottles, films, pipes, construction materials, auto parts, and consumer goods. Braskem sells mostly to other businesses, not to end consumers. It earns money by producing these materials and selling them through long industrial supply chains, where price, feedstock access, and product quality matter a lot.

What makes Braskem different is that it sits at the center of the plastics value chain. It does not sell finished plastic products; it supplies the core raw materials that many industries need every day. That makes its business tied to industrial demand, global petrochemical pricing, and access to low-cost feedstocks, while its bio-based product line gives it exposure to a niche with different raw material economics.