BASF (Ludwigshafen / Germany; www.basf.com) topped “Fortune” magazine’s 2010 list of the “world’s most-admired chemical companies,” nosing out second-place DuPont (Wilmington, Delaware / USA; www.dupont.com). Bayer (Leverkusen / Germany; www.bayer.com) placed fourth and Dow (Midland, Michigan / USA; www.dow.com) sixth. There was no separate category for plastics. BASF ranked second among all German companies surveyed.

No chemical player and only one non-US company – ironically, Toyota, which is facing a massive vehicle recall – placed in Fortune’s cross-industry top ten. All 700 companies considered for the list worldwide were ranked by more than 4,000 directors, executives and managers in their respective industries.