Lower diisocyanate prices hit BASF Materials Division in Q1 2019

Ludwigshafen, Germany — BASF recorded  total sales of EUR 16.2bn in first quarter of 2019 up 3.0% on the same period in 2018.

EBITDA across the business fell 6.9% and reached EUR  2.8bn in the first quarter of 2019 .

Martin Brudermuller, CEO said 'As expected, this is due to the considerably lower contributions from the Materials and Chemicals segments.'

In addition, he said: 'We had exceptionally high isocyanates margins and strong cracker margins in the first quarter of the previous year.'

Brudermuller was speaking at the company's annual shareholders meeting, in Mannheim, Germany.

The company's Materials Division had sales which fell 15.3% between Q1 2018 and Q1 2019. They reached EUR 3bn in the Q1 2019 period. This compares with EUR 3.46 m in the previous period.

BASF attributed the fall to lower prices in its Monomers business, which contains the diisocyanates business. Sales volumes were also lower than in the 2018 quarter.

Moreover, in the Performance Materials business, demand was weaker for polyurethane systems in Asian and European automotive and consumer goods industries.

In addition, currency effects and lower monomers margins fed through to the earnings despite higher margins for performance materials. EBITDA across in the division fell 49.1% and reached EUR 491 m in the first quarter of 2019.

BASF has restructured its business and segment data for 2018 has been restated to reflect the new organizational structure.