Most Indebted Basic Materials Stocks
Top basic materials companies ranked by long-term debt, latest annual filings.
Most Indebted Basic Materials Companies: What Long-Term Debt Tells You
Long-term debt in basic materials reflects the combination of heavy capital intensity and long commodity cycles. Miners, steel producers, and chemical firms routinely carry substantial debt tied to mines, smelters, and processing plants with multi-decade asset lives. Acquisitions of competing assets or new greenfield projects drive additional borrowing, and the sector's history shows debt levels that often expand in commodity upswings and then require years of disciplined cash deployment to work back down.
Why Debt Isn't Always a Red Flag in Basic Materials
For operators with low-cost long-life assets, meaningful long-term debt is a reasonable match to asset duration and expected through-cycle cash flow. Yet commodity cycles can turn quickly, and firms that took on debt at peak prices for expansion projects or acquisitions sometimes struggle when the cycle rolls over before the new capacity is fully productive. Reading debt against unit costs and position on the cost curve is more informative than the absolute balance.
What to Read Alongside
Pair long-term debt with Free Cash Flow to test servicing capacity through the commodity cycle, EBITDA for leverage ratios relative to mid-cycle earnings, and Cash & Equivalents for the net-debt picture after available liquidity.
| # | Symbol | Company | Sector | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | RIO | Rio Tinto Group | Basic Materials | $21.20B | $136.19B |
| 2 | LIN | Linde plc | Basic Materials | $20.68B | $236.54B |
| 3 | DOW | Dow Inc. | Basic Materials | $17.85B | $22.73B |
| 4 | SUZ | Suzano S.A. | Basic Materials | $16.76B | $11.90B |
| 5 | CRH | CRH plc | Basic Materials | $16.48B | $63.09B |
| 6 | LYB | LyondellBasell Industries N.V. | Basic Materials | $12.12B | $19.63B |
| 7 | CE | Celanese Corporation | Basic Materials | $11.39B | $5.10B |
| 8 | PKX | POSCO Holdings Inc. | Basic Materials | $11.34B | $14.79B |
| 9 | MT | ArcelorMittal S.A. | Basic Materials | $10.67B | $45.85B |
| 10 | NTR | Nutrien Ltd. | Basic Materials | $9.35B | $33.89B |
| 11 | SHW | The Sherwin-Williams Company | Basic Materials | $9.32B | $83.13B |
| 12 | FCX | Freeport-McMoRan Inc. | Basic Materials | $8.91B | $85.33B |
| 13 | SID | Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional | Basic Materials | $7.76B | $1.13B |
| 14 | ECL | Ecolab Inc. | Basic Materials | $7.37B | $84.33B |
| 15 | CLF | Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. | Basic Materials | $7.25B | $6.54B |
| 16 | NUE | Nucor Corporation | Basic Materials | $6.91B | $55.58B |
| 17 | SCCO | Southern Copper Corporation | Basic Materials | $6.75B | $142.73B |
| 18 | PPG | PPG Industries, Inc. | Basic Materials | $6.60B | $27.03B |
| 19 | SQM | Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile S.A. | Basic Materials | $6.40B | $16.43B |
| 20 | MLM | Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. | Basic Materials | $5.29B | $36.85B |
| 21 | NEM | Newmont Corporation | Basic Materials | $5.12B | $125.65B |
| 22 | WLK | Westlake Corporation | Basic Materials | $5.09B | $8.12B |
| 23 | AMRZ | Amrize Ltd | Basic Materials | $4.94B | $22.29B |
| 24 | IFF | International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. | Basic Materials | $4.74B | $20.69B |
| 25 | B | Barrick Mining Corporation | Basic Materials | $4.65B | $66.77B |
| 26 | JHX | James Hardie Industries plc | Basic Materials | $4.49B | $16.20B |
| 27 | CX | CEMEX, S.A.B. de C.V. | Basic Materials | $4.46B | $15.47B |
| 28 | VMC | Vulcan Materials Company | Basic Materials | $4.36B | $36.29B |
| 29 | MOS | The Mosaic Company | Basic Materials | $4.25B | $7.11B |
| 30 | EMN | Eastman Chemical Company | Basic Materials | $4.20B | $7.36B |
| 31 | STLD | Steel Dynamics, Inc. | Basic Materials | $4.18B | $31.70B |
| 32 | CC | The Chemours Company | Basic Materials | $4.10B | $1.92B |
| 33 | SSL | Sasol Limited | Basic Materials | $4.06B | $9.51B |
| 34 | BHP | BHP Group Limited | Basic Materials | $3.64B | $203.04B |
| 35 | CF | CF Industries Holdings, Inc. | Basic Materials | $3.21B | $17.46B |
| 36 | AXTA | Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. | Basic Materials | $3.18B | $7.80B |
| 37 | DD | DuPont de Nemours, Inc. | Basic Materials | $3.13B | $19.42B |
| 38 | ALB | Albemarle Corporation | Basic Materials | $3.12B | $11.71B |
| 39 | FMC | FMC Corporation | Basic Materials | $2.77B | $875.79M |
| 40 | OLN | Olin Corporation | Basic Materials | $2.72B | $1.97B |
| 41 | MEOH | Methanex Corporation | Basic Materials | $2.71B | $5.13B |
| 42 | GFI | Gold Fields Limited | Basic Materials | $2.56B | $34.65B |
| 43 | TECK | Teck Resources Limited | Basic Materials | $2.55B | $29.69B |
| 44 | AA | Alcoa Corporation | Basic Materials | $2.44B | $10.44B |
| 45 | RPM | RPM International Inc. | Basic Materials | $2.13B | $13.18B |
| 46 | CLMT | Calumet, Inc. | Basic Materials | $2.08B | $3.48B |
| 47 | SMG | The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company | Basic Materials | $2.05B | $3.77B |
| 48 | AU | AngloGold Ashanti plc | Basic Materials | $2.02B | $47.04B |
| 49 | FUL | H.B. Fuller Company | Basic Materials | $2.02B | $2.68B |
| 50 | SOLS | Solstice Advanced Materials, Inc. | Basic Materials | $1.97B | $9.12B |
| 51 | SBSW | Sibanye Stillwater Limited | Basic Materials | $1.92B | $6.72B |
| 52 | AVNT | Avient Corporation | Basic Materials | $1.92B | $4.17B |
| 53 | CSTM | Constellium SE | Basic Materials | $1.91B | $2.93B |
| 54 | ICL | ICL Group Ltd | Basic Materials | $1.88B | $6.04B |
| 55 | TX | Ternium S.A. | Basic Materials | $1.81B | $9.65B |
| 56 | EXP | Eagle Materials Inc. | Basic Materials | $1.75B | $5.66B |
| 57 | CTVA | Corteva, Inc. | Basic Materials | $1.69B | $7.94B |
| 58 | HUN | Huntsman Corporation | Basic Materials | $1.66B | $1.66B |
| 59 | NEXA | Nexa Resources S.A. | Basic Materials | $1.65B | $1.51B |
| 60 | ESI | Element Solutions Inc | Basic Materials | $1.63B | $7.61B |
| 61 | RS | Reliance, Inc. | Basic Materials | $1.42B | $21.24B |
| 62 | ASH | Ashland Inc. | Basic Materials | $1.38B | $3.51B |
| 63 | EQX | Equinox Gold Corp. | Basic Materials | $1.37B | $13.45B |
| 64 | EGO | Eldorado Gold Corporation | Basic Materials | $1.23B | $9.29B |
| 65 | NGVT | Ingevity Corporation | Basic Materials | $1.16B | $2.03B |
| 66 | KNF | Knife River Corporation | Basic Materials | $1.15B | $3.20B |
| 67 | KALU | Kaiser Aluminum Corporation | Basic Materials | $1.06B | $1.75B |
| 68 | MATV | Mativ Holdings, Inc. | Basic Materials | $1.02B | $645.75M |
| 69 | MTX | Minerals Technologies Inc. | Basic Materials | $955.00M | $1.91B |
| 70 | MP | MP Materials Corp. | Basic Materials | $931.33M | $6.31B |
| 71 | KOP | Koppers Holdings Inc. | Basic Materials | $914.30M | $566.78M |
| 72 | RGLD | Royal Gold, Inc. | Basic Materials | $895.44M | $22.47B |
| 73 | NEU | NewMarket Corporation | Basic Materials | $883.39M | $6.39B |
| 74 | CBT | Cabot Corporation | Basic Materials | $856.00M | $3.65B |
| 75 | KWR | Quaker Chemical Corporation | Basic Materials | $834.90M | $2.58B |
| 76 | CMP | Compass Minerals International, Inc. | Basic Materials | $832.20M | $961.78M |
| 77 | SLVM | Sylvamo Corporation | Basic Materials | $763.00M | $1.57B |
| 78 | KGC | Kinross Gold Corporation | Basic Materials | $738.20M | $26.20B |
| 79 | SXT | Sensient Technologies Corporation | Basic Materials | $709.23M | $5.07B |
| 80 | PAAS | Pan American Silver Corp. | Basic Materials | $709.00M | $16.98B |
| 81 | SXC | SunCoke Energy, Inc. | Basic Materials | $685.50M | $831.77M |
| 82 | PRM | Perimeter Group Inc. | Basic Materials | $669.12M | $4.83B |
| 83 | IAG | IAMGOLD Corporation | Basic Materials | $648.80M | $10.63B |
| 84 | UAN | CVR Partners, LP | Basic Materials | $569.07M | $1.16B |
| 85 | BTG | B2Gold Corp. | Basic Materials | $564.44M | $7.11B |
| 86 | KRO | Kronos Worldwide, Inc. | Basic Materials | $557.40M | $858.63M |
| 87 | ERO | Ero Copper Corp. | Basic Materials | $551.40M | $3.01B |
| 88 | HBM | Hudbay Minerals Inc. | Basic Materials | $536.50M | $9.29B |
| 89 | TGB | Trekor Metals Limited | Basic Materials | $518.74M | $2.55B |
| 90 | ARIS | Aris Mining Corporation | Basic Materials | $465.78M | $3.23B |
| 91 | BCC | Boise Cascade Company | Basic Materials | $445.40M | $2.44B |
| 92 | LXU | LSB Industries, Inc. | Basic Materials | $440.30M | $763.23M |
| 93 | MTRN | Materion Corporation | Basic Materials | $436.35M | $3.88B |
| 94 | ECVT | Ecovyst Inc. | Basic Materials | $392.58M | $1.14B |
| 95 | TTAM | Titan America SA | Basic Materials | $390.44M | $2.08B |
| 96 | GPRE | Green Plains Inc. | Basic Materials | $361.99M | $927.36M |
| 97 | ASTL | Algoma Steel Group Inc. | Basic Materials | $351.95M | $568.46M |
| 98 | SCL | Stepan Company | Basic Materials | $340.98M | $1.52B |
| 99 | SSD | Simpson Manufacturing Co., Inc. | Basic Materials | $300.00M | $7.98B |
| 100 | WFG | West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. | Basic Materials | $300.00M | $5.31B |
No companies match this search.
How this ranking is built
Companies are ranked by long-term debt as reported in their most recent annual filing with the SEC. Figures shown are in US dollars (or percent, as noted), rounded to two decimals.
- Source: annual 10-K / 20-F filings from companies trading on US exchanges (NYSE, Nasdaq, AMEX).
- Fiscal year: whichever annual period the company has most recently filed. Fiscal years don't always align with the calendar year, so the "as of FY" stamp above reflects the most common year across the table.
- Filtered out: warrants, preferred shares, and duplicate listings that share a parent company's financials.
- Size floor: A company qualifies at $500 million in market cap or above. Below that, one mis-stated figure outranks the companies the list is about.
- Currency check: A company whose annual revenue runs above 15 times its market cap is left out, because at that gap the two figures are not in the same currency.
- Currency check: A company whose balance sheet runs above 150 times its market cap is left out for the same reason.
- Market cap: stated at each company's latest close, which is newer than the annual figure ranked here.
- Update cadence: refreshed as companies file new annual reports (typically within 60–90 days of fiscal year end).
Not financial advice. This is a research tool, not a recommendation.
Frequently asked questions
Why are basic materials firms typically heavily leveraged?
Mining, steel, chemical, and forest-products operations require large upfront investments in physical assets that have useful lives measured in decades, which are naturally funded with long-duration debt. Operating cash flow tends to be cyclical, but the steady scale of the underlying asset base and the ongoing need for sustaining capex support consistently meaningful debt balances. Low-cost operators with long-life assets can carry higher leverage comfortably than higher-cost peers, and the relationship between debt level and asset quality is central to reading the sector.
How does a commodity cycle shape the risk of basic materials debt?
Materials firms that borrow heavily to expand near the top of a commodity cycle often find themselves integrating expensive acquisitions or ramping new capacity just as prices begin to fall. The pattern has repeated across cycles in metals, chemicals, and pulp. A more useful question than absolute debt is whether the firm would still cover interest and maintain liquidity at mid-cycle commodity prices rather than recent peaks, which gives a more honest read of sustainable capital structure across a full cycle.