By Mohammed Abu Meleeh

Riyadh-Mubasher: Saudi Arabia’s giant petrochemical producer SABIC posted net earnings of SAR 6.17 billion for Q2-15, falling 4.5% compared with SAR 6.46 billion in the year-ago period.

SABIC’s chemical sales declined by 22% (SAR 24.69 billion) to SAR 87.33 billion in H1-15, compared with SAR 112 billion in the similar period of 2014, which weighed most on the company’s total sales.

The company’s earnings from the steel sector dropped 84% year-on-year from SAR 658 million to SAR 105 million.

Acting CEO Yousef Al-Benyan earlier denied news about selling a steel plant of Ma’aden.

The kingdom’s steel producers have been facing a problem over the last months, as the monthly production of crude steel reached its highest level of 565,000 tonnes in March, compared with 505,000 tonnes in February.

The inventory also rose from 200,000 tonnes to 600,000 tonnes.

The petrochemical producer managed to reduce the cost of sales/sales by 2.17% and expenses by 1.34% in the second quarter, which led to a 7.24% fall in operating profits. The sales were 12.58% down.

Although the other income decreased 8.36%, net earnings decreased by 4.76%.

At the six-moth level, sales dropped by 20.26%, costs (-0.12%) and expenses (-0.14%). In addition, the operating profits and other income declined 26% and 22.89%, respectively.

Translated by Abdul Maguid Aboshahla