China Sunsine Chemical Holdings,the producer of rubber accelerators, says net profit declined 17% to RMB 88.3 million ($18.2 million) in the full year ended 31 December 2009 (FY2009) from RMB 106.7 million in FY2008 on the back of a 10% decrease in revenue to RMB 718.4 million.

The decline in revenue was due mainly to the lower overall Average Selling Price (ASP) of rubber accelerators in FY2009 compared to FY2008 due to the global economic crisis. The overall ASP for all products dropped by 39% to RMB 15,800 per tonne in FY2009 from RMB25,900 per tonne in the previous year. However, with prudent cost management, China Sunsine Chemical says profits did not decrease proportionally.

During FY2009, the group increased the production capacity of all product categories. Extra effort was put in to increase production efficiency of accelerators and insoluble sulphur in FY2009 as they gave better profit margin.

Earnings per share amounted to RMB 18.41 cents in FY2009 compared to RMB 21.77 cents in FY2008.

Total assets stood at RMB 766.2 million and net assets at RMB 599.4 million.

In line with the booming car industry in China, the company says the proportion of sales to the local China market increased to 61% in FY2009 compared to 56% in FY2008.

In 2009, vehicle sales in the PRC were 13.6 million units, overtaking the U.S. as the world’s largest automobile market.

Meanwhile, it continues to serve more than half of the global top tire makers and added 100 new customers to increase the total to over 700.

China Sunsine says the international tire sector appears to have stabilised and expects the China market to show good growth.

The directors are recommending a final tax exempt dividend of 1 cent per ordinary share. The group had earlier declared an interim dividend of 1 cent in 1Q2009.