Belgium's Antwerp – The Ultimate Hub for India’s Chemical and Diamond Trade

Antwerp has become one of Europe’s most strategic hubs for chemicals and diamonds. It hosts the continent’s largest integrated chemical cluster and a world-leading diamond district centred around the Port of Antwerp-Bruges. For India focused businesses building resilient Europe-India supply chains, it's a smart single stop where chemical feedstocks, pharma-grade logistics, and high-value diamond trade come together seamlessly.

Europe’s chemical powerhouse

The Port of Antwerp‑Bruges hosts Europe’s largest integrated chemical cluster, bringing together refineries, steam crackers and downstream plants on one connected platform. Industry bodies describe it as the largest integrated petrochemical cluster in Europe, with a uniquely high degree of integration across the value chain. This “Verbund” style setup allows byproducts from one facility to become inputs for another, reducing logistics costs and improving energy and resource efficiency.

According to regional investment promotion data, the Antwerp chemical ecosystem covers refining, petrochemicals, specialty chemicals, storage and logistics, with more than 300 different chemicals handled and hundreds of companies present on site. The location is central: major Western European industrial and consumer regions lie within roughly a 1,000‑kilometre radius, making Antwerp an attractive base for pan‑European distribution of chemical products.

Belgium’s industrial backbone: BASF, Solvay, and Umicore.

Flagship sites: BASF, Solvay and Umicore

BASF Antwerpen anchors Belgium's largest integrated chemical site and ranks as BASF's second-biggest worldwide. It runs about 50 facilities that produce base chemicals, specialty chemicals, synthetics, refined products, and inorganics. These feed key sectors like automotive, construction, paper, leather, textiles, food, and pharmaceuticals.

Solvay, founded in Belgium in 1863, operates multiple sites across the country, including one at Port of Antwerp/Zandvliet. From these, it supplies materials and specialty chemicals for electronics, high-tech gear, building materials, and healthcare—bolstering Antwerp as a hub for advanced chemical chains.

Umicore, a top global materials tech group, has its headquarters in Brussels and precious metals refining HQ in Hoboken (15 km from Antwerp). This setup drives regional expertise in battery materials, catalysts, and precious metals—vital for clean energy and e-mobility supply chains.

A diamond district with global reach

Parallel to its industrial base, Antwerp has been a major diamond centre for more than five centuries. The Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) notes that the city is home to about 1,470 diamond companies and around 3,300 direct jobs, making the industry a significant contributor to Belgium’s economy.

Antwerp is often described as the “diamond capital of the world” and “the world’s most trusted diamond centre,” with four of the 29 global diamond bourses located in the city. Every rough or polished diamond imported into or exported from Belgium passes through the Diamond Office in Antwerp, a single specialized customs point that handles tens of thousands of shipments and over 200 million carats annually. This tight concentration of trading, valuation, cutting and compliance functions makes Antwerp a natural hub for high‑value, low‑volume flows between Europe and major producer and consumer markets, including India.

Europe’s chemical and pharma gateway: Port of Antwerp-Bruges.

Port of Antwerp‑Bruges: gateway for chemicals and pharma

The Port of Antwerp‑Bruges is the maritime backbone that connects these clusters with global supply chains. Sector associations highlight that it brings together four major refineries, three steam crackers and a broad range of downstream plants, ensuring reliable availability of raw materials and intermediates. This infrastructure has helped attract most of the world’s top chemical producers, which operate production or supply chain facilities in or around the port area.

On the life science side, Port of Antwerp‑Bruges describes itself as the first maritime port in the world whose entire logistics chain for life science and healthcare products operates under European Good Distribution Practice (GDP) rules. The port reports around 63,000 square metres of GDP‑certified warehouse space, with temperature-controlled facilities in the 2–8°C and 15–20°C ranges that support the distribution of medicines, vaccines, blood plasma and medical materials. This combination of bulk chemical feedstocks and tightly regulated pharma logistics is directly relevant to Indian pharmaceutical and biotech exporters looking at reliable European entry points.

Logistics networks and distribution platforms

Beyond chemicals and diamonds, Antwerp’s position at the heart of the Benelux region puts it in the middle of dense road, rail, barge and short‑sea networks serving continental Europe and the UK. Large fashion and retail groups such as Inditex operate centralized logistics systems for Europe, with primary distribution platforms in Spain complemented by additional hubs in select European locations and external logistics partners across the continent.

Indian‑headquartered TVS Supply Chain Solutions (TVS SCS) has developed a substantial UK & Europe business, offering end‑to‑end supply chain, warehousing, distribution and technology rollout services across markets including the UK, Ireland, Belgium and the Netherlands. Public disclosures show TVS SCS continuing to deepen its European footprint through acquisitions and new contracts, particularly in automotive and retail‑related logistics. These kinds of networks enable Indian and European brands to plug into multi‑country distribution models that can route goods through Antwerp and neighbouring gateways as demand requires.

Antwerp: A strategic industrial gateway linking India to Europe.

Why Antwerp matters for India’s supply chains

Port of Antwerp‑Bruges has explicitly identified India as a strategic partner, highlighting that overall trade with India grew by about 10 percent in a recent year, while India’s import volumes through the port increased by more than 22 percent in the same period. The port also underscores that Antwerp’s chemical hub aligns closely with India’s role as a world‑leading producer of pharmaceuticals, and that India’s ambitions in renewable energy and green molecules fit well with the port’s energy‑transition focus.

For Indian companies in chemicals, pharma, gems and jewellery, and consumer sectors, Antwerp offers a pragmatic mix: large‑scale production of petrochemicals and intermediates, a highly regulated pharma logistics platform, and a globally recognized diamond ecosystem within one connected region. Within the Europe–India Supply Chain Series, Antwerp stands out as a city where industrial scale and high‑value niche trade intersect, giving businesses on both sides a stable and well‑governed base from which to build long‑term partnerships.

Note:- This article is part of EIJ’s ongoing Europe–India Supply Chain Series, where we spotlight the key European countries, cities, and companies shaping India’s trade networks. Each week, we explore one nation’s strategic role across industrial goods, logistics, retail sourcing, innovation, and critical intermediates. Over the coming weeks, the series will map the quiet infrastructure behind everyday commerce. Stay with us as we trace the supply routes that connect Europe and India — one country at a time.