In 2024, Chemistry Australia commissioned Acil Allen Consulting to provide a supplementary review of its major exploration of the economic contribution of the Australian chemistry industry.
The recent review revealed a substantial increase to the sector’s footprint within Australia.
Since its last report in 2019, ACIL Allen has confirmed our sector’s contribution to GDP has grown by $10 billion, from $38 billion to $48 billion.
The number of small, medium and large businesses in every state and territory is now up from 5,500 to 5,900 businesses.
Our sector also directly employs more people than we did seven years ago, up from approximately 62,000 to 70,000 people in highly skilled jobs. Overall, our industry underpins more than 240,000 jobs across the economy.
Read the full report regarding our industry’s economic contribution.
The report co-incides with the release of Chemistry Australia’s policy recommendations, An ambitious vision for investment in Australian chemistry, which details the industry’s vision for the future of Australian manufacturing, prioritising sustainability, innovation, and resilience.
A comprehensive report by Acil Allen Consulting analyses the economic contribution of the Australian chemistry industry in 2017-18, which represents the largest gas-based manufacturing sector in Australia.
Commissioned by members of Chemistry Australia, the Chemical Sector Economic Contribution Analysis report tables the economic contribution of the Australian chemistry industry, which represents the largest gas-based manufacturing sector in Australia.
The report estimates the direct and indirect economic value of the output of the Australian chemical industry during the financial year 2017-2018.
Key data:
- The chemistry sector drives more than $286 million of local economic activity for every petajoule of gas it consumes
- This is 33 times more than the LNG industry and 68 times more than the gas-fired electricity generation industry
- The sector also supports more than 1,600 full time equivalent jobs for every petajoule of gas it uses; this is 80 times higher than LNG, and 150 times more than the gas-fired electricity generation sector
- Australians receive $277 million more in economic benefit from a petajoule of gas that goes through the chemistry industry than they do from a petajoule of gas going to LNG exports
- The chemistry industry underpins more than 212,000 full time equivalent jobs across the economy
- 80 per cent of the chemistry sector is located in Victoria, NSW and Queensland
- The chemistry sector directly employs 61,458 people in full time equivalent jobs with the bulk of employment concentrated in Victoria (19,550), NSW (19,303) and Queensland (11,372)
- In 2017-18, the chemistry sector contributed $11.2 billion to NSW GSP, $10.5 billion to Victoria GSP and $6.8 billion to Queensland GSP
