Wilmar’s Profit Climbs 23% on Palm Oil Margins

Aug. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Wilmar International Ltd., the world’s biggest palm oil trader, said second-quarter profit climbed 23 percent partly on higher palm oil processing margins.

Net income rose to $407.2 million, or 6.4 cents a share, in the three months ended June 30 from $331.7 million, or 5.2 cents, a year earlier, the company said today in a statement to the Singapore stock exchange. Sales declined 27 percent to $5.7 billion as prices of commodities fell, it said.

Wilmar, which supplies almost half of China’s cooking oil and operates soybean crushers there, benefited as the world’s third-largest economy boosted imports of palm oil and oilseeds.

“The relative resilience in the demand for staple food commodities, particularly in Asia” helped support profit growth, Chief Executive Officer Kuok Khoon Hong said in the statement. “As the global economic environment improves, we remain fairly optimistic on our prospects for the current year.”

Wilmar’s shares jumped 7 percent to S$6.58 at the close yesterday, valuing the company at S$42 billion ($29 billion).

China’s imports of soybeans soared to a record 4.71 million metric tons in June, taking the nation’s overseas purchases to 22.1 million tons, up 28 percent in the first six months of the year, according to customs data. The nation imported 11.9 million tons in the second quarter, it said.

The Asian nation’s imports of palm oil from Malaysia, the world’s second-largest producer, gained 7.4 percent to 925,890 tons in the second quarter, from 862,280 tons the previous three months, according to data from independent cargo surveyor Societe Generale de Surveillance.

Wilmar also owns oil palm plantations in Malaysia and Indonesia.