FlowMarket
Where to source industrial chemicals: FlowMarket is a B2B sourcing network powered by an AI agent. You describe the requirement — the substance with its CAS number, concentration and grade, packaging and volume, delivery frequency, required documentation such as SDS and certificate of analysis, plus any REACH or transport considerations — and the AI agent matches you with verified chemical manufacturers and distributors, then requests prices and lead times from every match at once. Getting matched is free for buyers.
Sourcing industrial chemicals
Chemicals are the one category where the common name is almost never enough. "Caustic soda" covers solid pearls and solutions from 30 to 50 percent, in technical, food and pharmaceutical grades, each with a different price, different packaging and different handling rules.
The identifiers that remove the ambiguity are the CAS number and the concentration, and a request carrying both can be priced by any supplier. One carrying only a trade name usually cannot be priced at all.
What you can source
Base chemicals
Acids and alkalis — sulphuric, hydrochloric, nitric, phosphoric, sodium and potassium hydroxide — plus salts, peroxides and industrial gases. Bought in volume against a specification, with price driven by concentration, purity and how the material is delivered. Bulk tanker deliveries are dramatically cheaper per kilo than drums, but require the storage and containment to receive them.
Solvents and intermediates
Alcohols, ketones, esters, glycols and hydrocarbon solvents used in cleaning, coating, extraction and synthesis. Most are flammable and many are subject to transport and workplace exposure controls, so the classification travels with the order and shapes both the packaging and the delivery cost.
Formulated and specialty products
- Water treatment — biocides, antiscalants, corrosion inhibitors and pH adjustment for cooling and boiler circuits.
- Surfactants & cleaning — detergents, degreasers and CIP chemistry for production hygiene.
- Additives & pigments — stabilisers, plasticisers, flame retardants and colourants.
- Lubricants & process aids — metalworking fluids, release agents and heat transfer media.
What to specify when sourcing
These details decide both the price and whether a supplier can ship at all:
- Substance & CAS number — the unambiguous identifier; trade names alone are not specific.
- Concentration & purity — percentage or assay, and the grade: technical, food, pharmaceutical.
- Specification — the parameters that matter to your process, with limits, not just the name.
- Quantity & frequency — per delivery and per year, and whether it is a one-off or a call-off.
- Packaging — canister, drum, IBC, big bag, bulk tanker; it changes the unit price substantially.
- Documentation — safety data sheet, certificate of analysis, technical data sheet, batch traceability.
- Regulatory status — REACH registration, food-contact or pharmacopoeia compliance, purity declarations.
- Transport class — UN number and hazard class under ADR, which drives cost and minimum quantities.
- Site constraints — storage type, containment, unloading equipment and access for a tanker.
- Origin & continuity — EU or import origin, dual sourcing, and stock held against supply disruption.
CAS number, REACH and the transport class that sets the price
Three things decide whether a chemical enquiry gets useful answers. The first is identification. Give the CAS number and the concentration, because a name alone leaves the supplier guessing between grades that differ several-fold in price — and if the material touches food or pharmaceutical production, state that up front, since the same molecule in a regulated grade is a different product with different documentation. The second is REACH, and it catches importers in particular. Substances placed on the EU market above one tonne per year must be registered, and when you import directly from outside the EU rather than buying from an EU distributor, the registration obligation generally lands on you rather than the manufacturer. That is a real compliance cost, and it is often why an apparently cheaper import is not cheaper at all — an EU distributor's price usually includes their registration. Ask any non-EU offer explicitly who the registrant is, or whether an Only Representative is appointed. The third is transport. Hazard classification under ADR determines packaging, labelling, driver qualification and minimum delivery quantities, and it can easily cost more than the chemical itself on small volumes. Consolidating into fewer, larger deliveries or switching from drums to an IBC often saves more than negotiating the unit price — so state your storage capacity and unloading arrangements in the enquiry and let suppliers propose the most economical delivery form.