TPIA Records a 71.42% Decline in Profit

PT Chandra Asri Petrochemical Tbk (TPIA) recorded an unsatisfactory performance in the first half of 2019. Based on the June interim financial report published on Tuesday (9/24), Chandra Asri's net profit fell 71.42 percent year on year (YoY). The net profit was recorded at US$ 32.75 million or equivalent to Rp 458.59 billion (assuming an exchange rate of Rp 14,000 per USD), down from a net profit of US$ 115.20 million or around Rp 1.61 trillion at the end of June 2018.

This decline in net profit was partly due to the decline in corporate income in that period in line with declining ethylene prices from US$ 930 per metric ton in the first quarter of 2019 to US$ 828 per metric ton in the second quarter of 2019. It happened because of weaker demand in overall and adequate supply with several downstream unit outages. Meanwhile, polyethylene prices fell to US$ 1,094 per metric ton from April to June 2019. Weaker polyethylene prices were driven by low trading activity during the holiday season, uncertainty due to US-China trade tensions, and sufficient supplies.