Chemical, Plastics & Green Business

Catalonia is Spain’s leading region for the chemical and plastics industry, with 1,747 companies, €29.1 billion in revenue and 65,755 direct jobs. The sector represents 9% of Catalan GDP and is the second-largest manufacturing industry in Catalonia. Catalonia accounts for 25% of Spain’s chemical companies, 37% of sector turnover and 31% of employment. 
The industry is concentrated around three major hubs; Tarragona, Barcelona and Vallès, which together account for 77% of companies, 87% of turnover and 80% of employment. Tarragona specializes in petrochemicals and basic chemicals, Vallès in specialty chemicals, and Barcelona in corporate activities, perfumes and cosmetics.

A center of chemical excellence

Located 100 km south of Barcelona, the Tarragona chemical hub is the largest petrochemical complex in Southern Europe. Through it runs 50% of Catalonia’s chemical production and 25% of Spain’s. Home to more than one hundred companies and two of Spain’s three operational crackers, operated by Repsol and Dow, Tarragona serves as a major industrial and export platform, with more than half of its production destined for international markets. Its strategic location, with access to the Port of Tarragona and close to the airports of Reus and Barcelona and along the Mediterranean Corridor linking Europe and Africa, also makes it a natural logistics and production center for the chemical industry.  

The cluster is supported by leading institutions including the Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ), the Chemical Technology Centre of Catalonia (CTQC), Rovira i Virgili University and specialized vocational training centers.

A dynamic R&D ecosystem

Catalonia combines industrial scale with a world-class research network. Key assets include ICIQ, a global leader in catalysis and renewable energy research; the ALBA Synchrotron and the ALBA II upgrade project; the Barcelona Biomedical Research Park (PRBB); the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO); and the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC). Together, these institutions support innovation and technology transfer across fields such as catalysis, renewable energy, advanced materials, photonics and supercomputing.