Consolidated Statements of Income (USD $) In Thousands, except Per Share data, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2015	Mar. 31, 2014
Income Statement [Abstract]
Net Sales	$ 460,451us-gaap_SalesRevenueNet	$ 477,442us-gaap_SalesRevenueNet
Cost of Sales	384,009us-gaap_CostOfGoodsAndServicesSold	414,418us-gaap_CostOfGoodsAndServicesSold
Gross Profit	76,442us-gaap_GrossProfit	63,024us-gaap_GrossProfit
Operating Expenses:
Selling	12,997us-gaap_SellingAndMarketingExpense	14,146us-gaap_SellingAndMarketingExpense
Administrative	19,339us-gaap_GeneralAndAdministrativeExpense	14,431us-gaap_GeneralAndAdministrativeExpense
Research, development and technical services	11,790	11,924
Total Operating expenses	44,126	40,501
Gain on sale of product line (Note 14)	2,862scl_GainLossOnSaleOfProductLine
Operating Income	35,178us-gaap_OperatingIncomeLoss	22,523us-gaap_OperatingIncomeLoss
Other Income (Expense):
Interest, net	(4,054)	(2,957)
Loss from equity in joint ventures	(1,240)	(1,451)
Other, net (Note 13)	652us-gaap_OtherNonoperatingIncomeExpense	(26)us-gaap_OtherNonoperatingIncomeExpense
Nonoperating Income (Expense), Total	(4,642)us-gaap_NonoperatingIncomeExpense	(4,434)us-gaap_NonoperatingIncomeExpense
Income Before Provision for Income Taxes	30,536	18,089
Provision for Income Taxes	9,250us-gaap_IncomeTaxExpenseBenefit	5,081us-gaap_IncomeTaxExpenseBenefit
Net Income	21,286us-gaap_ProfitLoss	13,008us-gaap_ProfitLoss
Net (Income) Loss Attributable to Noncontrolling Interests (Note 2)	(16)	10
Net Income Attributable to Stepan Company	$ 21,270us-gaap_NetIncomeLoss	$ 13,018us-gaap_NetIncomeLoss
Net Income Per Common Share Attributable to Stepan Company (Note 9):
Basic	$ 0.94us-gaap_EarningsPerShareBasic	$ 0.57us-gaap_EarningsPerShareBasic
Diluted	$ 0.93us-gaap_EarningsPerShareDiluted	$ 0.57us-gaap_EarningsPerShareDiluted
Shares Used to Compute Net Income Per Common Share Attributable to Stepan Company (Note 9):
Basic	22,718	22,773
Diluted	22,827	22,964
Dividends Declared Per Common Share	$ 0.18	$ 0.17

Generally recurring costs associated with normal operations except for the portion of these expenses which can be clearly related to production and included in cost of sales or services. Includes selling, marketing, general and administrative and research and development and technical services.

No definition available.