Boosted by higher prices and output, the world's largest chemical company by market value, Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC), has posted a record quarterly profit. Profits have recorded a surge of 50% as against profits recorded for the same period a year ago.
Net income in the three months to March 31 rose to 6.3 billion riyals (US$1.68 billion) as against 4.18 billion riyals recorded in the year-earlier period. Prices of SABIC main products rose 14% compared with Q1-2006, and production and sales 11%. SABIC's main product by volume for last year was 7.15 million tons of ethylene. It is estimated that SABIC's cost of producing per ton of ethylene is not more than US$250-300. The average quarterly Asian price of ethylene rose 17.1% to US$1,230 per metric ton during the three months to March 31, compared with US$1,050 per ton in the year-earlier period. The rise in prices can be attributed to plant outages in China, Taiwan and Thailand, against a decline in oil prices during the same period.
19-Apr-07 
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