What's Happening

The cleaning chemicals sector is navigating one of its toughest market environments in years. Major chemical producers are cutting costs aggressively: Dow announced 4,500 job cuts (more than 12.5% of its workforce), Shell's chemical division lost $66 million in Q4 2025, and Sasol closed four manufacturing assets, including detergent chemical production lines.

According to C&EN reporting from the 2026 cleaning industry conference circuit, these aren't cyclical bumps — industry leaders describe a "new normal" of soft demand in surfactants and cleaning ingredient markets, driven by consumer budget constraints and competitive pricing pressure.

Market Pressures

Two forces are squeezing the industry simultaneously:

• Demand side: Consumer spending on cleaning products has softened. Budget-conscious buyers are purchasing less frequently and trading down to lower-cost options.
• Cost side: High natural gas prices in Europe have increased production costs, while competitive pricing pressure limits the ability to pass those costs through to customers.

For chemical suppliers and distributors, this means tighter margins on surfactants, solvents, and cleaning-grade chemicals — the building blocks of consumer and industrial cleaning products.

How the Industry Is Responding

Rather than simply cutting costs, forward-thinking companies are innovating their way through the downturn:

Sustainability as differentiation: New ingredients emphasize biobased content, biodegradability, and low emissions. These attributes are becoming essential for market acceptance as major brands reformulate their product lines.

Notable developments:

• Sasol launched a surfactant derived from soldier fly larvae oil — a C12–14 alcohol ethoxylate from an entirely novel feedstock
• Itaconix showcased polyitaconic acid in 8-gram dish tablets that are 50% smaller than conventional tablets
• BASF is investing in enzymes and specialty polymers that reduce the amount of surfactant needed per application, lowering both costs and environmental impact
• Soane Materials developed microfibrillated cellulose for dissolvable cleaning sheets — eliminating water from the product entirely

What It Means for Chemical Buyers

If you purchase cleaning chemicals, surfactants, or solvents for manufacturing, janitorial, or resale purposes, the current market offers both risks and opportunities:

• Pricing leverage: Soft demand means suppliers are competing harder for business. This is a buyer's market for commodity cleaning chemicals.
• Supply reliability matters more: Plant closures and asset shutdowns mean fewer sources for some ingredients. Having a reliable supplier with consistent inventory becomes more valuable when others are exiting the market.
• Sustainability requirements are accelerating: If your customers are asking for greener formulations, the ingredient options are expanding rapidly — but navigating specifications and certifications requires supplier expertise.