Asahi sales edge upwards

ERJ staff report (TP)

Tokyo – Asahi Kasei Corp. reported a slight increase in net sales but a decline in income for the first quarter of 2014.

For the period 1 April to 30 June (Q1 2014), net sales was 447.1 billion yen (€3.2bn) – up 4% compared to the same period last year.

Operating income was 26.6 billion yen – a fall of 5%. In Q1 2013 it was 28.3 billion yen.

There was a slight decrease in terms of ordinary income – Q1 2014 was 27.3 billion yen – down 0.5% on the first quarter in 2013.

Net income fell sharply – by 13.3% – from 19.6 billion yen in Q1 2013 to 16.9 billion yen.

Back in July, ERJ reported that Asahi Kasei president Toshio Asano had warned about the state of the solution-polymerised styrene-butadiene rubber (S-SBR) market.

Asano said Asian producers of S-SBR will require a tight control of costs to deal with a glut of new capacity coming on stream.

He added that demand for S-SBR, particularly for use in fuel-efficient tires, is growing at a rate not expected a few years back. This has prompted a scramble among suppliers to initiate capacity expansions.