Aug 14 (Reuters) - Chilean industrial conglomerate
Empresas Copec on Thursday posted an 21% drop in
second-quarter profit although revenue surpassed expectations,
as the forestry giant faces falling pulp prices and impacts from
the U.S.-China trade war.
Net profit for the three months ended June hit $228 million
- in line with forecasts of analysts polled by LSEG - from
revenue that edged down 1% to $7.18 billion.
However, revenue for Copec, which owns a large forestry
business as well as fuel distribution, mining and fishing
operations, landed ahead of analysts' $6.84 billion estimate.
Copec attributed the decline in sales largely to lower
prices for pulp - a raw material used in a range of products
such as paper, packaging and some textiles - though it partially
offset this by selling off larger volumes.
Copec said China faced an oversupply of pulp even though
domestic consumption and demand remained strong, while in
Europe, an oversupply had combined with a lower use of "almost
all grades of paper", causing some paper mills to shut down.
"The dissolving pulp market has been affected by the trade
war between the United States, China, and other Asian
textile-producing countries," it added.
Copec said its forestry subsidiary Arauco sold nearly 8%
more pulp compared to the same quarter last year, but prices
were down more than 12%.
Arauco contributes the bulk of earnings for Copec, which
last year counted over 9,360 square km (3,614 square miles) of
land planted mainly with eucalyptus and pine forests across
Brazil and South America's Southern Cone - an area larger than
the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico.
Washington has slapped a 50% tariff on goods from Brazil,
but excluded some major exports, including various types of wood
pulp, sawn wood and paper products.