MOSCOW (MRC) -- Mitsui Chemicals says net profits for its fiscal first nine months, ended 31 December 2015, increased 76.8% compared with the year-ago period, to ?33.6 billion (USD279 million), said Chemweek.
Profits improved because of higher sales volumes and improved trading conditions with better margins and the weaker yen, Mitsui says. Nine-month sales decreased 11.4%, however, to ?1.03 trillion, mainly because of ?8.3-billion increase in sales volume and ?141.7-billion decrease in sales prices. Selling prices were lowered because of the fall in naphtha and other raw materials and fuel prices, Mitsui says. Third-quarter figures have not been disclosed.
During the nine-month period, economic conditions continued to improve in the United States backed by rising personal consumption and a steady housing market, and economic conditions in Europe gradually recovered, particularly in Germany and the United Kingdom, Mitsui says. Economic growth continued to slow in China and emerging markets. In Japan, the economy gradually improved amid rising corporate earnings and an improvement in employment, Mitsui says.
Mitsui's petrochemicals business reports a 15.4% fall in nine-month sales compared with the year-ago period, to ?374.4 billion, but operating profits for the business increased 50.2%, to ?29.3 billion, mainly because of firm demand in the domestic market and favorable foreign exchange rate, Mitsui says. Naphtha cracker operating rates increased compared with the same period of the previous fiscal year, Mitsui says. Profits were firm from overseas polypropylene compound businesses mainly because of the increased production of automobiles in North America and Central America, the company says.
As MRC informed earlier, Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. announced it is financially participating in MSCT Corporation, a subsidiary of the electronic component trading company Sentronic International Corporation to promote business development of the Group’s metal resin integral molding technology, POLYMETAC.
Mitsui Chemicals,a Japanese chemical company, is a part of the Mitsui conglomerate. The company has a turnover of around 15 billion USD and has business interests in Japan, Europe, China, Southeast Asia and the USA. The company mainly deals in performance materials, petro and basic chemicals and functional polymeric materials.
MRC