April 25 (Reuters) -

Eastman Chemical ( EMN ) beat Wall Street estimates for

first-quarter profit on Thursday, helped by a decline in

destocking trends across key markets.

The company's adjusted profit was $1.61 per share for the

three months ended March 31, compared with analysts' average

estimate of $1.43 per share, according to LSEG data.

Chemical companies have been plagued by destocking for the

past few quarters, but this trend is slowly coming to an end as

companies are seeing demand levels pick up across the US, Europe

and China.

"In the first quarter, we were encouraged to see continued

evidence that inventory destocking is complete across most of

our key end markets", said CEO Mark Costa.

The diversified chemicals company added that it expects to

benefit from revenue and earnings generated at its Kingsport

methanolysis facility, mostly in the second half of the year.

Eastman Chemical's ( EMN ) sales grew 4.5% sequentially to $2.31

billion, above average analysts' estimate of $2.29 billion.

The company, which produces products that are used in a

range of industries from consumer goods to the automotive

industry, affirmed its full-year profit between $7.25 and $8.00

per share.