Founder’s Vision
Growth through
Collaboration
Read the founders’ perspective on Kolmar’s history, global growth, capabilities, investments and long-term values.
The story and principles guiding Kolmar.
The founders’ perspective appears below in full.
Founded in 1997 as a family-owned enterprise with five employees, Kolmar has evolved into a global energy, chemicals, and polymers enterprise generating sales typically ranging from US$5 billion to US$8 billion. Despite its growth, Kolmar remains guided by the principles upon which it was founded: the pursuit of excellence in "function trading" and a commitment to "growth through collaboration."
For 30 years, Kolmar has built enduring partnerships with customers, suppliers, service providers, financial institutions, and other stakeholders around the world. The Group creates value by understanding market dynamics, identifying opportunities, and providing reliable, practical, and innovative supply chain solutions tailored to the specific needs of its partners.
Today, Kolmar operates through offices and representations in more than 20 countries across Europe, North America, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. Approximately 300 employees contribute diverse industry expertise, cultural perspectives, and professional disciplines, speaking more than 30 languages collectively. Exceptionally low employee turnover reflects the strength of Kolmar's culture and the long-term commitment of its people.
Kolmar's business is built on a combination of commercial expertise, global market access, logistics capabilities, financing solutions, and disciplined risk management. This integrated approach allows the Group to help customers and suppliers navigate increasingly complex markets while focusing on their core activities. Long-standing banking relationships, robust governance standards, and a conservative approach to risk have established Kolmar as a reliable and trusted counterparty worldwide.
The Group's diversified portfolio spans a broad range of energy, chemical and biofuels, including:
- Petrochemicals, including olefins, aromatics, petrochemical feedstocks, solvents, alcohols, and fiber raw materials.
- Renewable and lower-carbon fuels, including waste-based feedstocks, biodiesel, renewable diesel, Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) and ethanol.
- Crude oil and petroleum products, including blending components.
- Natural gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG).
- Plastics and polymers, including European distribution activities through Swiss Polymers.
Kolmar has established leading positions in its traditional petrochemical and renewable fuels businesses while building specialized trading, supply and distribution platforms across crude oil, petroleum products, and polymers. The Group's ability to combine physical trading, transportation, storage, financing, hedging, and market intelligence enables it to create customized solutions for customers throughout the value chain.
In an environment characterized by geopolitical uncertainty, shifting trade patterns, evolving regulations, supply chain disruption and the global energy transition, Kolmar's international footprint and market knowledge allow it to identify imbalances, connect markets, and deliver products reliably across regions and industries.
A key element of Kolmar's long-term strategy is participation in the transformation of global energy and material markets. The Group increasingly operates at the intersection of conventional hydrocarbons, renewable fuels, circular feedstocks, and advanced recycling technologies, helping customers navigate a rapidly evolving commercial landscape.
Within this strategy, polymers represent a growth platform. Through its 50% ownership of Swiss Polymers, a European plastics distribution company, Kolmar participates directly in the plastics value chain, complementing its established petrochemical trading activities. The partnership strengthens the Group's presence in European distribution markets while supporting its broader expansion into polymers and other intermediates products.
Kolmar has also made strategic investments that support the development of renewable and circular solutions. Through American GreenFuels, the Group manufactures renewable fuels in Connecticut. Its New Haven facility is the largest biodiesel production plant in the northeastern United States, with annual production capacity of 60 million gallons per year (180,000 metric tons).
Advancing its circular economy strategy, Kolmar has invested in SynPet Technologies, a company developing advanced recycling solutions for difficult-to-recycle waste streams. SynPet's Thermal Conversion Process is designed to convert plastic waste that is unsuitable for conventional mechanical recycling into circular feedstocks for the chemical industry. The company's first industrial-scale facility has advanced to the engineering and design phase and is expected to process up to 220,000 metric tons of plastic waste annually.
These investments reflect Kolmar's conviction that the future of the energy and chemical industries will encompass conventional products, renewable fuels, circular feedstocks, and emerging technologies. The Group seeks to bridge these markets by providing the infrastructure, logistics, financing, risk management, and commercial expertise required to scale innovative solutions and accelerate market adoption.
Sustainability is increasingly embedded within Kolmar's operations, governance framework, and growth strategy. In 2025, Kolmar was awarded the EcoVadis Platinum Medal, placing the Group among the top 1% of companies assessed globally for sustainability performance. This distinction reflects the company's commitment to environmental stewardship, ethical business conduct, responsible supply chain management, employee well-being, and continuous improvement.
At the heart of Kolmar's success is its corporate culture, summarized by the acronym Kolmar MATTERS:
- Modesty
- Allegiance
- Teamwork
- Tolerance
- Excellence
- Responsibility
- Stimulation
These values guide how Kolmar's employees work together, engage with business partners, and contribute to the communities in which the Group operates. They have been instrumental in Kolmar's development and continue to shape its future.
As Kolmar enters its fourth decade, the Group remains focused on connecting markets, enabling trade, and supporting the evolution of the global energy, chemicals, and plastics industries. Combining entrepreneurial agility with global reach, Kolmar strives to be a trusted, progressive, and commercially valuable partner, helping customers navigate change while contributing responsibly to a more sustainable and interconnected world.