Wilmar International, the world’s largest palm oil trader, said second-quarter profit rose 87% on increased sales volumes and after its oilseeds unit swung to a profit.
Net income was $218.5 million ($277.2 million) in the three months ended June 30, compared with US$117.1 million a year earlier, the Singapore-based company said today in a statement. That missed the US$286 million average estimate of three analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Sales declined 5.4% to US$10.4 billion, driven by lower palm oil prices.
Wilmar’s palm processing and trading unit, its biggest, posted a 40% gain in pretax profit and a 10% increase in sales volume as it added refining capacity in Indonesia. The company buys more than 90% of the palm oil for its refineries from third parties.
Its oilseeds unit, which processes soybeans in meal and oil, posted a US$15.3 million profit before tax in the quarter compared with a $40 million loss a year earlier as margins remained positive.
Volumes rose 22% at its consumer products unit and 64% at its sugar unit, Wilmar said.
Wilmar to supply fully traceable & segregated palm products
to Europe through JV
− the UK market alone consumes 550,000 MT of palm oil for food
purposes
− this initiative increases the total supply of sustainable palm oil for the U.K. food market to 350,000 tonnes per year, which amounts to more than 60% of the U.K.’s annual palm oil market for food applications
this week . Accumualte cheap