Julius Hoesch

Julius Hoesch GmbH & Co. KG is a German chemicals company headquartered in Hoven, a district of Düren in North Rhine-Westphalia. It describes itself as a reliable partner in industrial chemistry and specialty chemistry, combining trading, production, and services. The business was founded in 1865 by Julius Hoesch, a member of the widely branched Hoesch industrialist family, as a trading firm for the then-new products of the emerging chemical industry in Düren. Over more than 150 years it has grown into one of Germany's modern chemical wholesale locations, with tank, filling, and storage facilities as well as production plants for its own products and contract manufacturing, supported by an in-house laboratory for product control, development, and optimization. The company's portfolio covers more than 5,000 products across three sales divisions: industrial chemicals, specialty chemicals, and services. Industrial chemicals include acids, bases, solvents, solids, special fuels, plasticizers, hydrocarbons, glycols, alcohols, esters, ketones, amines, fatty acids, cooling brines, water and wastewater treatment chemicals, and mineral oils and lubricants. Specialty chemicals include surfactants and detergent raw materials, complexing agents, phosphonates, preservatives, cosmetic raw materials, silicone oils and emulsions, defoamers, adhesion promoters and emulsifiers for bitumen, hotmelts, release agents, bacteria and spores, and Expancel® microspheres. Services span aqueous and solvent-based production, cleaning and degreasing agents, antifreeze, development of customer-specific formulations, comparative product testing, filling and packaging, application technology consulting, and preparation of technical documentation. Julius Hoesch serves a wide range of industries, including automotive, printing and paper, paints and coatings, plastics and rubber, detergents and cleaning agents, surface technology and metal treatment, water treatment, adhesives, forestry and agriculture, cosmetics, asphalt and bitumen, food and feed, and pharmaceuticals, as well as construction chemistry. The company operates a site of 86,000 m² with around 170–180 employees, more than 5,000 products, over 6,000 customers, and total revenue of more than 200 million euros according to its own figures. It also has its own logistics service provider named Juli.O. In spring 2023 it launched a new digital sales platform called HOESCH direct, combining customer service and sales functions. The company remains family-owned and is not listed on a stock exchange.

The Hoesch family was a widely branched entrepreneurial family whose prominent personalities increased the family's fame in Aachen, Düren, the Ruhr area, and Saxony. The founding of the Eisen- und Stahlwerke Hoesch-Dortmund, the family's largest enterprise, which was absorbed into the Thyssen-Krupp steel group in the 1990s, traces back to a family branch whose ancestors had been reed makers and iron cutters at the plate hammers of the Vicht valley near Stolberg since the early 17th century. The same ancestors also include an agricultural branch that owned the Herzoglich-Jülisches Lehnshof Dadenberg near Lamersdorf in the Düren district in the 18th century. From this Dadenberg line came the great-grandfather of Dr. Henning Hoesch. He founded the trading firm of the same name in 1865 for the distribution of the then-new products of the emerging chemical industry in Düren. In the generation of Dr. Henning Hoesch's parents, this firm became the starting point for the Chemische Fabrik Hoesch KG in Düren Niederau. As a producer of resin glues, the Chemische Fabrik Hoesch KG was an important partner for the local paper industry at the time. Through the production of detergent raw materials, cooling brines, and stabilizers, it gained a significant place in the buoyant consumer-based economic development after the war. While the firm remained in family ownership for 35 years, the trading firm Julius Hoesch in Düren-Hoven experienced steady growth based on a broad product range of chemical base materials. According to the German Wikipedia article, Julius Hoesch founded a chemicals trading business in 1865. As early as 1924 the company held the general agency for the Farbwerke Hoechst and many other large companies. In 1925 Hoesch expanded the operation to include the gasoline, oils, and fats divisions. From 1925 to 2021 Julius Hoesch was a partner in the Deutsche Avia Mineralöl-Gesellschaft. In 1931 the former paper factory Gebr. Stettner in Hoven was purchased; it had two railway connections. During the Second World War the company site was 70 percent destroyed. Reconstruction began in May 1945. After conversion and expansion measures, Julius Hoesch today ranks among the modern chemical wholesale locations in Germany. In addition to tank, filling, and storage facilities, the company now has extensive production plants for manufacturing its own products and contract manufacturing. For product control, development, and optimization, Julius Hoesch has its own laboratory. The products it distributes are used in numerous industries: printing and paper, energy, paints and coatings, agriculture and forestry, metal, mineral oil, food, detergents and cleaning agents, automotive, water treatment, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, plastics and rubber, and asphalt and bitumen. In spring 2023 Julius Hoesch released a new digital sales platform called HOESCH direct, which combines both customer service and sales functionalities for customers. The company employs around 170 people and its operating site covers 86,000 m². It also has its own logistics service provider named Juli.O.

• 2023

  Launch of the HOESCH direct digital sales platform in spring.

• 2021

  End of partnership in Deutsche Avia Mineralöl-Gesellschaft after 1925–2021.

• 1945

  Reconstruction begins in May after 70% of the company site was destroyed in World War II.

• 1931

  Purchase of the former Gebr. Stettner paper factory in Hoven with two railway connections.

• 1925

  Expansion into gasoline, oils, and fats divisions; begins partnership in Deutsche Avia Mineralöl-Gesellschaft (until 2021).

• 1924

  The company holds the general agency for Farbwerke Hoechst and many other large companies.

• 1865

  Julius Hoesch founds a chemicals trading firm in Düren.

Reliable partner in industrial and specialty chemistry, combining trading, production, and services for a broad range of industries.

• Industrial chemicals

  Solvents, hydrocarbons, glycols/ethers/esters, alcohols/esters/ketones, acids and bases, solids (salts, oxides, carbonates, fruit acids), plasticizers, amines/alkanolamines, fatty acids, cooling brines, water and wastewater treatment chemicals, mineral oils and lubricants.

• Specialty chemicals

  Detergent raw materials (surfactants, complexing agents, phosphonates), preservatives, cosmetic raw materials, silicone oils/emulsions, defoamers, adhesion promoters and emulsifiers for bitumen, hotmelts, release agents, bacteria/spores, and Expancel® microspheres.

• Services

  Aqueous and solvent-based production, cleaning and degreasing agents, antifreeze, development of customer-specific formulations, comparative product tests, filling and packaging, application technology consulting, and preparation of technical documentation.

1. 1Ihr Partner in der Industriechemie/Spezialchemie | Julius Hoeschjulius-hoesch.de
2. 2Unternehmen Seit 1865 | Julius Hoeschjulius-hoesch.de
3. 3Julius Hoeschwikidata.org
4. 4Julius Hoeschde.wikipedia.org