Revenues Dip 9% for Huntsman in 2019 Second Quarter
The 6% decrease in revenues in the Advanced Materials segment, to $275 million, was reportedly due to lower sales volumes and lower average selling prices.
Huntsman Corp. recently reported second quarter 2019 results with revenues of almost $2.2 billion, a decrease of 9% from $2.4 billion in the 2018 second quarter. The 9% decrease in revenues in the Polyurethanes segment for the 2019 second quarter, to almost $1.2 billion, was reportedly due to lower average MDI and MTBE selling prices, partially offset by higher MDI and MTBE sales volumes. MDI average selling prices decreased primarily due to a decline in component MDI selling prices in China and Europe. MTBE average selling prices decreased in China primarily as a result of lower pricing for high-octane gasoline. MDI sales volumes increased primarily due to the start-up of a new Chinese MDI facility in 2018 and the acquisition of Demilec in the second quarter of 2018.
In the Performance Products segment, revenues fell 9% to $537 million in the second quarter of 2019, reportedly due to lower average selling prices, partially offset by slightly higher sales volumes. Average selling prices decreased in the derivatives business, primarily due to lower raw material costs, and in the upstream intermediates business, primarily due to lower feedstock costs and weakened market conditions. The increase in sales volumes was primarily due to the impact of the planned maintenance outage at Huntsman’s Port Neches, Texas, facility in the second quarter of 2018.