Fortune’s Southeast Asia 500, which measures the biggest firms within the area by income, covers seven economies: Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Singapore.
Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest financial system when it comes to each GDP and inhabitants, has the most important footprint on the checklist, protecting greater than a fifth of the overall rating with 109 firms. Thailand, the area’s second-largest financial system, sits in second place with 100.
Singapore, the area’s wealthiest financial system by GDP per capita, sits in the midst of the pack, with 81 firms on the Southeast Asia 500.
Measured by income, nonetheless, the tiny city-state of six million finally ends up far forward of its ASEAN friends.
Complete income from Singapore-based Southeast Asia 500 firms reached $637 billion, or a couple of third of the checklist’s whole income of $1.8 trillion. That’s twice as a lot of Thailand, which sits in second place with income of $352 billion.
What’s driving Singapore up the income rankings?
Singapore’s “Huge Three” banks—DBS, OCBC, and UOB—are maybe the city-state’s most outstanding firms. The three banks are essentially the most worthwhile firms on the Southeast Asia 500.
But they’re not truly the biggest Singaporean-based firms on the checklist.
No. 1 on the checklist is Trafigura Group, a commodities group that offers with metals, minerals, oil, and gasoline. Trafigura’s income for 2024 reached $243.2 billion, greater than some other firm on the checklist and nearly 4 occasions greater than the subsequent largest firm by income in Singapore.
Wilmar and Olam, No. 4 and No. 5, are each within the agribusiness house. These two firms are deeply embedded within the provide chain for client items like butter, nuts, grains, and cooking oils. Revenues for Wilmar and Olam reached $67.4 billion and $42 billion respectively in 2024.
Singapore’s central place as a hub makes it a first-rate location for firms hoping to do enterprise throughout the area, notably in neighboring Malaysia and Indonesia.
Singapore’s standing as a monetary heart additionally helps to inflate its income share. Trafigura and Flex (No. 10) are each legally domiciled in Singapore, which makes them Singaporean firms in line with Fortune’s methodology–though each firms have most of their operations, and even their operational headquarters, in different international locations.