COMMODITY trader Trafigura has come in first on the inaugural South-east Asian edition of the Fortune 500 list, a ranking of the largest companies by revenue.
On Tuesday (Jun 18), Fortune said that Trafigura dominated the ranking with sales of US$244 billion.
“The privately held commodity trader in minerals, metals and energy had the fewest employees among the list’s top 10 companies by revenue and is the second most profitable amongst this group,” it added.
This comes amid the fallout of a bribery probe. In March, the trader pleaded guilty in the US to a decade of oil bribery in Brazil and agreed to pay about US$127 million.
Four other Singapore-based companies also made it to the top 10 list. The companies are ranked by their revenue for the fiscal year ending Dec 31, 2023.
Agribusiness groups Wilmar International and Olam Group came in fourth and fifth, respectively. Manufacturing services provider Flex ranked eighth, while Singapore’s largest lender DBS came in 10th.
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DBS also emerged top, in terms of revenue and earnings, in the top 20 list.
Fortune, which publishes an annual list of the 500 top-grossing US companies, as well as global, Europe and China rankings, said its focus on South-east Asia comes as the region “gains greater significance” in the global economy due to shifting supply chains and the rapid development of economies.
The inaugural ranking includes companies from seven nations in the region: Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines and Cambodia.
Indonesia dominated the ranking with 110 companies. Thailand came in second with 107, followed by Malaysia with 89 companies and Singapore with 84.
Meanwhile, Vietnam contributed 70 companies, while the Philippines contributed 38 and Cambodia two.
Fortune noted that the top 10 companies by revenue came from a diverse group, with the energy sector holding three of the top spots. Other sectors such as financial services, commodities and consumer goods were also represented.
With collective revenues of US$242 billion, banking was the region’s second-largest sector, Fortune noted.
The top 10 companies on the list reported revenues of US$650 billion, accounting for more than a third of the revenue for fiscal year 2023 across all Southeast Asia 500 companies, which reported total revenues of US$1.8 trillion, said Fortune.
The minimum revenue threshold to be included on the list was US$460.8 million.
Overall, revenues and profits shrank over the past year for companies on the Southeast Asia 500 list, mainly due to weak energy markets.
However, those changes masked impressive growth stories in multiple industries, said Fortune.
Fast growers included Indonesian miners Harita Nickel and Merdeka Battery Materials, travel companies such as Thai Airways, and a range of insurers and banks.
Fortune’s executive editor for Asia Clay Chandler said: “The Fortune Southeast Asia 500 reflects a dynamic and fast-changing region – one whose core economies are growing notably faster than those of Europe or the US.
“This is partly due to South-east Asia taking on far greater significance in the global economy, not least because a host of Global 500 multinationals have shifted more of their supply chains to South-east Asian nations.”
