The impact of the high MDI price on Huntsman has diminished

Sales growth in The Huntsman MDI business slowed in the third quarter of 2018 as prices began to fall.
sales for the division in the third quarter of 2018 were $1.36 billion. By comparison, sales for the same period in 2017 were $1.2 billion, up 13% year-on-year
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adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) increased 1% from 2017 to 2018 and reached $247 million in the third quarter of 2018.
Chief Executive Peter Huntsman attended a conference call with US financial analysts. "Earlier this year, we pointed out that our short-term profit margin soared by $40m in the third quarter of last year," he said. We estimate that another $15 million in profits could soar in the third quarter of this year. We don't expect any surge in profit margins in the fourth quarter. The
added: "We have absorbed the $50 million impact of the unexpected shutdown of the MDI plant in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. He said it was caused by suppliers. He added: "In the third quarter, we have absorbed about $50 million in raw material price increases and benefited from our recent expansion in China by about $20 million." The
increased by 17% compared to the third quarter of 2017, with 6% coming from the acquisition of Demilec.
added that U.S. customers are benefiting from building plants in China because the raw materials he produces in the U.S. can now stay in China and boost local business growth.
, the company's chief executive, wants to remind investors that the company is turning to high-value-added downstream products. This is important, he says, because future declines in MDI pricing will not have much impact on profitability.
, our chief executive, also said: 'We have global risk controls below 30 per cent in terms of parts pricing. This is because the company is entering the downstream market.
will have more exposure to China's parts market, and over time we will make the transition as we have done in Europe and the Americas, " he said. In
explained that quarterly profit margins remained the same in downstream regions. That's because the company has been able to offset rising raw material prices.
" our downstream differentiated formulation business continues to grow robustly. Sales of our differentiated business increased by 6% year-on-year. Mr
said the company estimated MDI demand would grow at a rate of 6 per cent or 400,000 tonnes a year. Peter Huntsman added that if all expansion and new capacity goes ahead as planned by 2022, capacity will grow at a rate of about 5% a year.
Chief Financial Officer Sean Douglas said the company plans to use all of its aggregate MDI produced in the US in its downstream operations.
we need to make aggregateDIs," he said. Our plan is to acquire companies such as Demilec, enter downstream markets and convert components into high-value goods. "