BASF Group recently announced fourth quarter 2014 sales of €18 billion (~ $20 billion), compared to €18.1 billion (~ $20.1 billion) in the same period last year. Sales volumes increased by 1%. Sales of €74.3 billion (~ $82.7 billion) in 2014 nearly matched the previous year’s sales of €74 billion (~ $82 billion). Sales volumes increased in all segments in 2014. Overall volumes grew by 4%. Prices decreased by 3%, reportedly due to significant decreases in oil and gas prices.

“We achieved our goal for 2014,” said Kurt Bock, Ph.D., chairman of the Board of Executive Directors for BASF SE. “We increased earnings—despite the disappointing economic development in Europe. We grew profitably. We further strengthened our chemicals business and in turn improved our margins. We have our costs firmly under control. This is an outstanding achievement of the entire BASF team.”

In the Chemicals segment, fourth quarter sales declined by 3% to €4.1 billion (~ $4.5 billion), due to lower prices and volumes. Full year sales in the segment were €17 billion (~ $18 billion) and matched the level of the previous year.

The Monomers division posted a considerable, margin-related decline in earnings. At €3.7 billion (~ $4.1 billion), fourth quarter sales in the Performance Products segment were slightly above the same period of the previous year. Full year sales were down by 1% to €15.4 billion (~ $17.1 billion).

In the Functional Materials & Solutions segment, sales in the fourth quarter rose by 8% to €4.4 billion (~ $4.8 billion), reportedly due to higher volumes and positive currency effects. For the full year, sales rose 3% to €17.7 billion (~ $19.7 billion), due to significantly higher sales volumes.

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