Commodities and Industries Covered
Industry Coverage
Which industries are covered in these reports?
Commodity Production Costs reports span 10 industries, from chemicals and polymers to metals, food, and pharmaceuticals.
The 10 industries covered are:
- Olefins & Derivatives
- Polymers
- Oil & Energy
- Aromatics & Derivatives
- Alcohols & Organic Acids
- Fertilizers & Gases
- Inorganic Chemicals
- Food & Nutrition
- Pharmaceuticals
- Metals & Mining
Each industry includes multiple commodities, and many commodities have reports covering more than one production route, which is why the total library holds 858 reports across 264 commodities.
How many commodities have production cost reports?
The library covers 264 commodities with a total of 858 reports.
Because many commodities are manufactured through more than one process, the number of reports exceeds the number of commodities — on average, roughly 3 reports per commodity, though the actual count varies by commodity.
Each report examines one specific production process, providing capital cost analysis (CAPEX), operating cost analysis (OPEX), process description, and supporting diagrams. You can browse the full catalogue by industry or commodity on the Intratec website.
Are chemical production cost reports available?
Chemicals represent the largest share of the Commodity Production Costs library, with reports spanning six industry categories.
The chemical industries covered are:
- Olefins & Derivatives — Ethylene, Propylene, Butadiene, Ethylene Oxide, Vinyl Chloride, Acrylonitrile, and more.
- Aromatics & Derivatives — Benzene, Toluene, Xylene, Styrene, Phenol, Bisphenol A, and more.
- Alcohols & Organic Acids — Methanol, Ethylene Glycol, Acetic Acid, Acrylic Acid, and more.
- Inorganic Chemicals — Caustic Soda, Chlorine, Sulfuric Acid, Hydrogen Peroxide, and more.
- Fertilizers & Gases — Ammonia, Urea, Phosphoric Acid, and more.
- Polymers — HDPE, LDPE, Polypropylene, PVC, PET, Nylon, and more.
Each report examines a specific production process for the commodity, providing CAPEX, OPEX, and a full process description.
Are food and nutrition commodities covered?
Food & Nutrition is one of the 10 industries covered. The category includes commodities used as ingredients in human and animal feed as well as food additives — such as Citric Acid, Glucose, Lactic Acid, Lysine, Methionine, Riboflavin, Caffeine, and Carrageenan, among others.
Each report examines the production process for a specific commodity, covering capital costs, operating costs, raw material consumption, and process description.
Production Routes
How many production routes are covered per commodity?
The number of production routes available varies by commodity. The library contains 858 reports for 264 commodities, which works out to an average of approximately 3 reports per commodity — though some commodities have more and others fewer.
Each report covers a specific route (for example, one report for ethanol from sugarcane and a separate report for ethanol from wood chips), so the number of reports available for a given commodity reflects the number of routes analyzed.
Can I compare costs across different production routes?
Yes. Each report covers one specific production route, and when multiple reports exist for the same commodity, you can compare their economics side by side.
For example, if a commodity can be manufactured from two different feedstocks or via two different process technologies, each route has its own report with independently calculated CAPEX and OPEX figures. Purchasing both reports allows a direct comparison of capital investment, raw material costs, utility consumption, and overall production cost for each route.
Every report also includes a Technology Maturity Assessment and a list of all known commodity production routes, giving context on which technologies are commercially established versus emerging.
A process engineer evaluating ethanol production can compare the economics of a sugarcane-based route against a wood chips-based route by reviewing the respective reports for each process.
Does each report list all available production routes?
Yes. Every report — regardless of edition (Compact, Detailed, or Premium) — includes a "Commodity Production Routes" section that lists the known production routes for that commodity. This lets you see the full technology landscape for a commodity even if you have only purchased a report for one specific route.
What is a technology maturity assessment?
A Technology Maturity Assessment is included in every report edition (Compact, Detailed, and Premium). It evaluates how commercially developed each production route is — distinguishing between processes that are fully established at industrial scale and those that are still emerging or at earlier stages of development.
This assessment helps R&D teams, strategy planners, and cost engineers quickly understand whether a given technology is ready for commercial deployment or represents a future investment opportunity.