Eastman Chemical Company ("Eastman" or the "Company") is a global advanced materials and specialty additives company that produces a broad range of products found in items people use every day. Eastman began business in 1920 for the purpose of producing chemicals for Eastman Kodak Company's photographic business and became a public company, incorporated in Delaware, on December 31, 1993. Eastman has 48 manufacturing sites and equity interests in three manufacturing joint ventures in 14 countries that supply products to customers throughout the world. The Company's headquarters and largest manufacturing site are located in Kingsport, Tennessee. With a robust portfolio of specialty businesses, Eastman works with customers to deliver innovative products and solutions while maintaining a commitment to safety and sustainability. Eastman's businesses are managed and reported in four operating segments: Additives & Functional Products ("AFP"), Advanced Materials ("AM"), Chemical Intermediates ("CI"), and Fibers. See "Business Segments".

Acquisitions have supported Eastman's strategy to increase emphasis on specialty businesses and have provided opportunities for the integration of technology platforms enabling differentiated product development targeting new niche markets. In July 2012, the Company acquired Solutia Inc. ("Solutia"), a global leader in performance materials and specialty chemicals. In June 2014, the Company acquired BP plc's global aviation turbine engine oil business. In August 2014, the Company acquired Knowlton Technologies, LLC, a leader in the design, accelerated prototyping, and manufacture of wet-laid nonwovens in filtration, friction, and custom designed composite webs. In December 2014, Eastman acquired Taminco Corporation, a global specialty chemical company and Commonwealth Laminating & Coating, Inc., a specialty films business. Results of the acquired businesses are included in Eastman's financial results for the periods presented in this Annual Report on Form 10-K (this "Annual Report").

Eastman uses an innovation-driven growth model which consists of leveraging world class scalable technology platforms, delivering differentiated application development capabilities, and relentlessly engaging the market. The Company's world class technology platforms form the foundation of sustainable growth by differentiated products through significant scale advantages in research and development ("R&D") and advantaged global market access. Differentiated application development converts market complexity into opportunities for growth and accelerates innovation by enabling a deeper understanding of the value of Eastman's products and how they perform within customers' and end user products. Key areas of application development include thermoplastic processing, functional films, coatings formulations, rubber additive formulations, adhesives formulations, non-wovens and textiles, and animal nutrition. The Company engages the market by working directly with customers and downstream users, targeting attractive niche markets, and leveraging disruptive macro trends such as health and wellness, natural resource efficiency, an increasing middle class in emerging economies, and feeding a growing population. Management believes that these elements of the Company's innovation-driven growth model combined with disciplined portfolio management and balanced capital deployment will result in consistent, sustainable earnings growth and strong cash flow.

In 2017, the Company reported sales revenue of $9.5 billion , operating earnings of $1.5 billion , and net earnings attributable to Eastman of $1.4 billion . Diluted earnings per share attributable to Eastman were $9.47 . Cash provided by operating activities was $ 1.7 billion . Excluding non-core and unusual items, adjusted net earnings were $1.1 billion and adjusted earnings per diluted share were $7.61 . See "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in Part II, Item 7 of this Annual Report for reconciliation of non-GAAP to GAAP measures, description of excluded items, and related information. For Company sales revenue by end-market, see Exhibit 99.01 "2017 Company and Segment Sales Revenue by End-Use Market" of this Annual Report.

BUSINESS STRATEGY

Eastman's objective is to be an outperforming specialty chemical company with consistent earnings growth and strong cash flow. Integral to the Company's strategy for growth is leveraging its heritage of expertise and innovation within its cellulose and acetyl, olefins, polyester, and alkylamine chemistries. For each of these "streams", the Company has developed and acquired a combination of assets and technologies that combine scale and integration across multiple manufacturing units and sites as a competitive advantage. Management uses an innovation-driven growth model which consists of leveraging world class scalable technology platforms, delivering differentiated application development, and relentlessly engaging the market. The Company sells differentiated products into diverse markets and geographic regions and engages the market by working directly with customers and downstream users to meet their needs in existing and new niche markets. Management believes that this innovation-driven growth model will result in consistent financial results by leveraging the Company's proven technology capabilities to improve product mix, increasing emphasis on specialty businesses, and sustaining and expanding leadership in attractive niche markets. A consistent increase in earnings is expected to result from both organic growth initiatives and strategic inorganic initiatives such as external growth through acquisitions that are complementary or additive to existing products and joint ventures.

In 2017, as part of the Company's strategy to increase emphasis on specialty businesses and products, the Company continued to pursue strategic options to divest or otherwise monetize its excess ethylene capacity position and certain commodity olefin intermediates product lines, while retaining its cost-advantaged integrated position to propylene which supports specialty derivatives throughout the Company.

Growth and Innovation

Management is pursuing specific opportunities to leverage Eastman's innovation-driven growth model for continued near-term and long-term greater than end-market growth by both sustaining the Company's leadership in existing markets and expanding into new markets. These opportunities which are expected to add greater than two percent on a compounded basis to revenue from 2018 through 2020, currently include:

Sustainability

Because of Eastman's proprietary and differentiated technologies, applications development capabilities and advantaged feedstocks, the Company views sustainability as a source of competitive strength for growth. Eastman is committed to innovation and growth efforts focused on opportunities where disruptive macro trends align with the Company's differentiated and innovative technology platforms and applications development. Eastman has identified disruptive macro trends to align with the corporate strategy and drive innovation of new products that enable customers' development and sales of sustainable products. Examples of Eastman's leading position in providing sustainable solutions within identified disruptive macro trends include:

FINANCIAL STRATEGY

In its management of the Company's businesses and growth initiatives, management is committed to maintaining a strong financial position with appropriate financial flexibility and liquidity. Eastman management believes maintaining a financial profile that supports an investment grade credit rating is important to its long-term strategic and financial flexibility. The Company employs a disciplined and balanced approach to capital allocation and deployment of cash. The priorities for uses of available cash include payment of the quarterly dividend, repayment of debt, funding targeted organic and inorganic growth initiatives, and repurchasing shares. Management expects that the combination of continued strong cash flow generation, strong balance sheet, and sufficient liquidity will continue to provide flexibility to pursue growth initiatives.

The Company's products and operations are managed and reported in four operating segments: Additives & Functional Products ("AFP"), Advanced Materials ("AM"), Chemical Intermediates ("CI"), and Fibers. This organizational structure is based on the management of the strategies, operating models, and sales channels that the various businesses employ and supports the Company's strategy of continued transformation towards a specialty portfolio of products.

Sales revenue and costs related to growth initiatives, R&D, certain components of pension and other postretirement benefits, and other expenses and income not identifiable to an operating segment are not included in segment operating results for any of the periods presented and are included in "Other". For identification of manufacturing sites, see Item 2, "Properties". For additional information concerning the Company's operating segments, see Note 19, "Segment Information" , to the Company's consolidated financial statements in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report.

ADDITIVES & FUNCTIONAL PRODUCTS SEGMENT

Overview

In the AFP segment, the Company manufactures chemicals for products in the transportation, consumables, building and construction, animal nutrition, crop protection, energy, personal and home care, and other markets. In 2017, the AFP segment had sales revenue of $3.3 billion , 35 percent of Eastman's total sales. Key technology platforms in this segment are cellulose esters, polyester polymers, insoluble sulfur, hydrocarbon resins, alkylamine derivatives, and propylene derivatives.

The AFP segment's sales growth is typically above annual industrial production growth due to innovation and enhanced commercial execution with sales to a robust set of end markets. The segment is focused on producing high-value additives that provide critical functionality but which comprise a small percentage of total customer product cost. The segment principally competes on the unique performance characteristics of its products and through leveraging its strong customer base and long-standing customer relationships to promote substantial recurring business and product development. A critical element of the AFP segment's success is its close formulation collaboration with customers through advantaged application development capability.

See Exhibit 99.01 for AFP segment revenue by end-use market.

Strategy

Management applies the innovation-driven growth model in the AFP segment by leveraging proprietary technologies for the continued development of innovative product offerings and focusing growth efforts on further expanding end markets such as transportation, consumables, building and construction, industrial applications, animal nutrition, care chemicals, crop protection, and energy. Eastman management believes that the ability to leverage the AFP segment's research, differentiated application development, and production capabilities across multiple markets uniquely positions it to meet evolving needs to improve the quality and performance of its customers' products. For example, tire performance labeling regulations in various parts of the world and competitive pressure favoring performance over cost are causing tire manufacturers to simultaneously improve conflicting tire attributes. Eastman's tire additives technology helps tire manufacturers overcome common compromises often observed between wet grip and rolling resistance. In order to address identified market needs, the Company is also developing new technologies such as polyester resins for coatings, sustainable solvents, and cellulose esters and hydrocarbon resins for tires.

Eastman's global manufacturing presence is a key element of the AFP segment's growth strategy. For example, the segment expects to capitalize on industrial growth in Asia from its manufacturing capacity expansion in Kuantan, Malaysia and cellulose ester products sourced from the Company's low-cost cellulose and acetyl manufacturing stream in North America.

In 2017, the Company:

    

ADVANCED MATERIALS SEGMENT

Overview

In the AM segment, the Company produces and markets polymers, films, and plastics with differentiated performance properties for value-added end uses in transportation, consumables, building and construction, durable goods, and health and wellness markets. In 2017, the AM segment had sales revenue of $2.6 billion , 27 percent of Eastman's total sales. Key technology platforms for this segment include cellulose esters, copolyesters, and PVB and polyester films.

Eastman's technical, application development, and market development capabilities enable the AM segment to modify its polymers, films, and plastics to control and customize their final properties for development of new applications with enhanced functionality. For example, Tritan ^® copolyesters are a leading solution for food contact applications due to their performance and processing attributes and Bisphenol A ("BPA") free properties. The Saflex ^® Q Series product line is a leading solution for architectural and automotive applications. The Company maintains what management believes is a leading solar control technology position in the window film market through the use of high performance sputter coatings which enhance solar heat rejection while maintaining superior optical properties. The segment principally competes on differentiated technology and application development capabilities. Management believes the AM segment's competitive advantages also include long-term customer relationships, vertical integration and scale in manufacturing, and leading market positions.

See Exhibit 99.01 for AM segment revenue by end-use market.

Strategy

Management applies the innovation-driven growth model in the AM segment by leveraging innovation and technology platforms into new products and applications, accelerating AM segment growth, and leveraging its manufacturing capacity. The segment continues to expand its portfolio of higher margin products in attractive end markets. Through Eastman's advantaged asset position and expertise in applications development, management believes that the AM segment is well positioned for future growth. The advanced interlayers product lines, including acoustic PVB sheet and HUD interlayers, leverage Eastman's global presence to supply industry leading innovations to automotive and architectural end markets by collaborating with global and large regional customers. In the automotive end market, the performance films product line has industry leading technologies, recognized brands, and what management believes is one of the largest distribution and dealer networks which, when combined, position Eastman for further growth, particularly in leading automotive markets such as North America and Asia. The segment's product portfolio is aligned with underlying energy efficiency trends in both automotive and architectural markets. Additionally, increased demand for BPA-free products has created new opportunities for various copolyester applications.

The AM segment expects to continue to improve product mix from increased sales of premium products, including Tritan ^® copolyester, Visualize ^® material, Saflex ^® Q acoustic series and Saflex ^® HUD interlayer products, LLumar ^® , V-KOOL ^® , and SunTek ^® window and protective films.

The acquisition of Commonwealth Laminating & Coating, Inc. in December 2014 further expanded the AM segment's product portfolio and sales channel network in the diverse window film markets, enabled further manufacturing and distribution efficiencies, and added industry leading paint protection film technology to expand AM segment offerings in after-market automotive and protective film markets.

In 2017, the Company:

CHEMICAL INTERMEDIATES SEGMENT

Overview

The CI segment leverages large scale and vertical integration from the cellulose and acetyl, olefins, and alkylamines streams to support the Company's specialty operating segments with advantaged cost positions. The CI segment sells excess intermediates beyond the Company's internal specialty needs into markets such as industrial chemicals and processing, building and construction, health and wellness, and agrochemicals. In 2017, the CI segment had sales revenue of $2.7 billion , 29 percent of Eastman's total sales. Key technology platforms include acetyls, oxos, plasticizers, polyesters, and alkylamines.

The CI segment product lines benefit from competitive cost positions primarily resulting from the use of and access to lower cost raw materials, and the Company's scale, technology, and operational excellence. Examples include coal used in the production of cellulose and acetyl stream product lines, feedstocks used in the production of olefin derivative product lines such as oxo alcohols and plasticizers, and ammonia and methanol used to manufacture methylamines. The CI segment also provides superior reliability to customers through its backward integration into readily available raw materials, such as ethane, propane, and coal. In addition to a competitive cost position, the plasticizers business expects to continue to benefit from the growth in relative use of non-phthalate rather than phthalate plasticizers in the United States, Canada, and Europe.

Several CI segment product lines are affected by cyclicality, most notably olefin and acetyl-based products. See "Eastman Chemical Company General Information - Manufacturing Streams". This cyclicality is caused by periods of supply and demand imbalance, when either incremental capacity additions are not offset by corresponding increases in demand, or when demand exceeds existing supply. While management continues to take steps to reduce the impact of the trough of these cycles, future results are expected to occasionally fluctuate due to both general economic conditions and industry supply and demand.

See Exhibit 99.01 for CI segment revenue by end-use market.

Strategy

To maintain and enhance its status as a low-cost producer and optimize earnings, the CI segment continuously focuses on cost control, operational efficiency, and capacity utilization. This includes focusing on products used internally by other operating segments, thereby supporting growth in specialty product lines throughout the Company. Through the CI segment, the Company has leveraged the advantage of its highly integrated manufacturing facilities. For example, the Kingsport, Tennessee manufacturing facility allows for the production of acetic anhydride and other acetyl derivatives from coal rather than natural gas or other petroleum feedstocks. At the Longview, Texas manufacturing facility, Eastman uses its proprietary oxo technology in one of the world's largest single-site, oxo butyraldehyde manufacturing facilities to produce a wide range of alcohols and other derivative products utilizing local propane and ethane supplies and purchased propylene. The Pace, Florida manufacturing facility, which uses ammonia and methanol feedstocks, is the largest methylamine production site in the world. These integrated facilities, combined with large scale production processes and a continuous focus on additional process improvements, allow the CI segment product lines to remain cost competitive and, for some products, cost-advantaged over competitors.

In 2017, to support the increased emphasis on specialty businesses and products, the Company continued to pursue strategic options to divest or otherwise monetize its excess ethylene capacity position and certain commodity olefin intermediates product lines, while retaining its cost-advantaged integrated position to propylene which supports specialty derivatives throughout the Company.

The Company is party to an agreement with Enterprise Products Partners L.P. to purchase propylene from a planned propane dehydrogenation plant to further improve the Company's long-term competitive cost position. The Company expects to begin purchasing propylene from this plant in first half 2018. Prior to beginning these purchases, the Company will continue to benefit from a propylene market contract with an advantaged cost position for purchased propylene.

FIBERS SEGMENT

Overview

In the Fibers segment, Eastman manufactures and sells Estron ^® acetate tow and Estrobond ^® triacetin plasticizers for use in filtration media, primarily cigarette filters; Estron ^® natural (undyed) and Chromspun ^® solution-dyed acetate yarns for use in apparel, home furnishings, and industrial fabrics; and cellulose acetate flake and acetyl raw materials for other acetate fiber producers. Eastman is one of the world's two largest suppliers of acetate tow and has been a market leader in the manufacture and sale of acetate tow since it began production in the early 1950s. The Company is the world's largest producer of acetate yarn and has been in this business for over 85 years. In 2017, the Fibers segment had sales revenue of $852 million , 9 percent of Eastman's total sales.

The largest 10 Fibers segment customers accounted for approximately 70 percent of the segment's 2017 sales revenue, and include multinational as well as regional cigarette producers, fabric manufacturers, and other acetate fiber producers. 

The Company's long history and experience in fibers markets are reflected in the Fibers segment's operating expertise, both within the Company and in support of its customers' processes. The Fibers segment's knowledge of the industry and of customers' processes allows it to assist its customers in maximizing their processing efficiencies, promoting repeat sales, and developing mutually beneficial, long-term customer relationships.

The Company's fully integrated fibers manufacturing process employs unique technology that allows it to use a broad range of high-purity wood pulps for which the Company has dependable sources of supply.

Contributing to profitability in the Fibers segment is the limited number of competitors and significant barriers to entry. These barriers include, but are not limited to, high capital costs for integrated manufacturing facilities.

The Fibers segment's competitive strengths include a reputation for high-quality products, technical expertise, large scale vertically-integrated processes, reliability of supply, balanced internally produced acetate flake supply for Fibers products, a reputation for customer service excellence, and a customer base characterized by strategic long-term customer and end user relationships. The Company continues to capitalize and build on these strengths to further improve the strategic position of its Fibers segment. Despite continued challenging acetate tow market conditions, including additional industry capacity and lower capacity utilization rates, management expects continued strong Fibers segment cash flow.