Most people probably don’t realize the presence of Braskem in their lives. But just a quick look at one’s house, car or office is enough to find plastic objects - many of them made of resins produced by Braskem - that are essential for the daily comfort and convenience of modern life. Items such as hairbrushes, toothbrushes, baby bottles, household utensils, rucksacks, packaging, auto parts, computer parts, bags, wires, cables, window/door frames, among others, are made of thermoplastic resins such as polyethylene, polypropylene and PVC, on which the company’s businesses are focused. Braskem is the largest petrochemical company in the Americas and the world’s third largest producer of polypropylene, and it considers competitiveness and technology autonomy, combined with the commitment to promote the sustainable development, as its strategy bases.

The company owns the largest and most modern research center of Latin America in this sector, Braskem Technology and Innovation Center, with units in Triunfo (Rio Grande do Sul), São Paulo and the United States. The Center develops products, processes, applications and new markets in partnerships with its clients, the plastic processing companies, which constitute the third generation. This way, the company adds value e competitiveness throughout the petrochemical and resin production chain.

With stocks negotiated in the Stock Exchanges of São Paulo, New York and Madrid, Braskem is committed to the principles of good corporate governance, with transparent relations in the capital market.

Braskem’s challenge of increasingly growing, innovating and improving its performance relies on the people management focused on developing the potential of its more than 6.5 thousand members. It’s a model that seeks to attract, motivate and retain the best talents of the market, offering qualification and professional appreciation.

Braskem has the strategic view of being one of the five largest petrochemical companies in the world in 2020, recognized by Clients, for its practice of serving and creation of value to the production chain; by shareholders, with growth supported by profitability and increasing results; and by the society, through sustainable actions.

The company was created in August 2002, when Odebrecht and Mariani groups joined their petrochemical assets to Copene Petroquímica do Nordeste S.A., an old petrochemical raw material center in Camaçari Complex (Bahia) that the groups controlled since 2001.

The two groups joined their petrochemical companies and that’s how Braskem was created, the country’s first integrated petrochemical company, i.e., that combines operations from the first and second generations of the plastic production chain in a single company.

The first generation is responsible for the business related to the production of basic raw materials, such as ethylene, propene and chlorine, essential for the second generation, which is in charge of the thermoplastic resins. For being integrated into the production chain, Braskem offers great competitive advantages, such as production scales and operational efficiency.

In May 2009, Braskem incorporated Petroquímica Triunfo, located in Rio Grande do Sul, integrating a plant whose production capacity is 160 thousand MT/year of low density polyethylene, ethylene copolymer and ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA). The unit is ISO certified and supports the Atuação Responsável da Abiquim - Associação Brasileira da Indústria Química, a program with actions to protect the member’s health, safety and environment and dialog with the community.

In early 2010, Braskem announced the acquisitions of Brazilian Quattor and the polypropylene business of American Sunoco Chemicals, creating Braskem America and expanding to 29 industrial units: 26 in Brazil (in Alagoas, Bahia, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Rio Grande do Sul) and 3 in the United States, where the company created one more Technology and Innovation Center.

Today, Braskem produces more than 15 million tons of thermoplastic resins and other petrochemical products.