Siam Cement PCL, Thailand’s dominant industrial conglomerate, said its second-quarter net profit jumped 13 per cent from a year earlier on higher petrochemical and cement prices.  But net profit fell from the previous quarter, also by 13 per cent, as prices of petrochemical products eased during the period compared with the first quarter of the year. 
 
In the latest quarter, Siam Cement reported a net profit of 8.72 billion baht (US$210m), up from 7.74 billion baht in the same period a year earlier, but down from 9.99 billion baht in the previous quarter.  The conglomerate’s core businesses are cement, petrochemicals, and pulp-and-paper.