BASF posted second-quarter net income of €1.45 billion or €1.59 per share versus €1.18 billion or €1.29 per share last year. Adjusted earnings per share for the quarter increased year-over-year to €1.75 from €1.50. Income from operations, or EBIT, for the quarter rose to €2.22 billion from €2.08 billion in the year-ago quarter.

Sales for the three-month period climbed to €18.46 billion from €16.21 billion in the prior year.

After experiencing significant growth in Q1, BASF said its growth rates have normalized in Q2. The weak U.S. dollar also brought on negative currency effects (-6%) for the first time since Q1 2010. The inclusion of the Cognis businesses made a positive contribution to sales. In the chemicals business, sales volumes increased 5%. Due to the suspension of oil production in Libya, the contribution to earnings before taxes from Oil & Gas was lower compared with the same quarter of the previous year.

For the first half of 2011, sales were €37.8 billion, an increase of 19.4% compared with the same period of the previous year. EBIT before special items rose by 19.4% to around €5 billion.

The company said it continues to view the economic outlook as positive for the second half of the year, but expects growth to be less dynamic.

"The economic risks remain: We continue to be concerned about the development of the euro as well as the debt situation in some European countries and the United States," CEO Kurt Bock said. "Added to this is the persistently high oil price, which is having a negative impact on margins across our value chains and is leading to some customers being more cautious in their orders."