International CSRC Investment Holdings Co (國際中橡), a carbon black supplier, expects growth momentum this year to come from markets other than China, such as the US and India, CSRC president Huang Po-sung (黃柏松) said on Monday.
Prices of carbon black have this year been rising in the US because of strong demand, while consumption in India is forecast to increase as the nation aims to cultivate its automobile industry, Huang told an earnings conference in Taipei.
A new carbon black plant in Dahej, India, is scheduled to begin operations in 2021 and have an annual output of about 450,000 tonnes, the company said.
Demand in India is expected to increase by a compound annual growth rate of 4.9 percent from 2017 to 2022, compared with growth of 3.1 percent in the US and 2.8 percent globally, the firm said, citing industry estimates.
In the first quarter of this year, CSRC’s net profit dropped 4.98 percent year-on-year to NT$754.62 million (US$24.21 million), while earnings per share decreased from NT$1.17 to NT$0.88, company data showed.
Gross margin declined to 26.01 percent, compared with 27.8 percent a year earlier, while revenue climbed 11.66 percent to NT$6.07 billion in the period, the data showed.
Separately, Taiwan Prosperity Chemical Corp (TPCC, 信昌化工) said that unfavorable crude oil costs had negatively affected prices of its main products, such as phenol and acetone, resulting in net losses of NT$153.62 million in the first quarter.
A fire at its factory in Kaohsiung’s Linyuan Industrial Park (林園工業區) in January also harmed its business last quarter, it said.
TPCC reported losses per share of NT$0.53, compared with earnings per share of NT$0.26 in the same period last year.
Gross margin decreased to minus-2.35 percent and revenue dipped 28.4 percent to NT$2.50 billion from a year earlier, company data showed.
CSRC and TPCC are subsidiaries of Taiwan Cement Corp (台灣水泥).
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