Chemical giant Wacker says Ebitda from its polymers division fell 9% in 2011 because of high raw material costs.

Despite Wacker Polymers sales increasing 15% to €928m, Ebitda fell to €112m because of the rising cost of ethylene and vinyl acetate monomer (VAM). The price of ethylene rose by almost 20% and VAM by more than 30% in 2011, says the company.

The overall company results showed a similar pattern, with sales increasing 3% to €4.91bn but Ebitda falling 7.6% to €1.1bn.

“High raw-material costs, weak fourth-quarter business with polysilicon, start-up costs for commissioning the new production facilities at Wacker’s Nünchritz site and various non-recurring effects were the reason for the decline of 8% in Ebitda year over year,” said the company.

The Ebitda margin was 22.5% compared to 25.2%

Looking forward, the company says 2012 Ebitda will be “markedly below” the prior year level.