Huntsman Q1 polyurethane numbers hit by lower MDI prices

The Woodlands Texas — Huntsman had total sales of $2.03bn in first quarter of 2019. This was down 11.4% on the quarter in the previous financial year.

Adjusted EBITDA across the business fell 36.5% and reached $257m in the first quarter of 2019.

The company's Polyurethanes business had sales which fell 12.7% between Q1 2018 and Q1 2019. They reached $1.1 bn in the Q1 2019 period. This compares with $1.2 bn in the previous period.

Adjusted EBITDA across in the division fell 46.4% and reached $140 m in the first quarter of 2019.

In addition, the company said polyurethanes revenues fell because of lower MDI prices in the first quarter of 2019 compared with the first quarter 2018. Higher sales volumes in the quarter were helped by the company opening more Chinese MDI capacity.  The Demilec purchase in 2018 also helped, said the company.

Adjusted EBITDA fell because of lower margins in the MDI business, the company added.

Peter Huntsman, CEO said: 'While global economic conditions remained challenging in the first quarter of this year, we are pleased with the relative resilience of our core downstream portfolio. March ended slightly better than we projected, and while we remain cautious of certain regions of the world, notably Europe, we see momentum returning to Asia, especially in China.'