Saudi’s SABIC expects challenging sales environment in 2017

The chief executive of Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) said on Wednesday that he expected the sales environment for its products to be challenging in 2017.

Petrochemical firms have been hit hard by low oil prices, which have dragged down product prices. SABIC reported a 10.8 per cent year-on-year drop in third-quarter sales, which contributed to one of the world’s largest petrochemicals groups posting a ninth successive profit drop.

Yousef Abdullah al-Benyan added that prices in the metals sector seem to have bottomed out but he expected the pick-up in demand to be gradual.