Braskem record robust growth

08-Aug-05

Brazil's Braskem currently has three plants in the country and produces around 5.8 million tons of thermoplastic resin. Thermoplastic resin sales H1-2005 were up by 7% vis a vis the same period in 2004. Braskems' gross revenues reached US$ 2.6 billion (in current figures) recording a in this period touched US$274 million. This value reflects growth of around US$400 million vis a vis the same period last year, when the company posted losses of US$ 26 million. Exports are responsible for 22% of Braskem net revenues. Braskems' market split is as follows- 47.4% North and Central America, 17% in Europe, 15.4% in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Braskem, a leader in the production of thermoplastic resins in Latin America, imported around 400,000 tons of naphtha from countries in North Africa in Q1-2005. A total of 1.2 million tons of naphtha was purchased in H1-2005, and of this total, 35% was imports, mainly from North African countries, including Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Egypt. The rest of the material is purchased in the domestic market, from energy company Petrobras. Braskem has attributed a rise in costs to a 26% increase in the average price of naphtha, which rose from US$352 per ton in H2-2004 to US$445 in the corresponding period this year. Though naphtha prices rose by 30%, the depreciation of the US$ against the Brazilian real minimized the effect.