Jun. 19--Sales at Air Products & Chemicals dropped by 29 percent in April and May due primarily to weak demand and lower natural gas prices, the Trexlertown company announced, a steeper drop than the 24 percent slide reported for April alone.

But the company's underlying loss of business is about 11 percent, because its sales slip was steepened by falling natural gas prices and weak currency exchanges.

The company is the Lehigh Valley's third-largest employer and the world's largest hydrogen producer. The report indicates Air Products is not seeing the seasonal uptick in business it normally gets from April to May due to the global recession.

Air Products provides gases to various industrial markets, including oil refineries, steelmakers and electronics manufacturers. When those industries scale back production, Air Products sees demand for gases slump.

Also affecting its sales figures are natural gas prices. Air Products uses natural gas in manufacturing, and passes its natural gas costs directly to customers to protect itself from price volatility. So falling natural gas prices means Air Products charges its customers less. That reduces the company's overall sales revenue regardless of demand.

Air Products closed Thursday at $65.53 per share on the New York Stock Exchange, up 1.8 percent for the day.

At the end of 2008, Air Products employed 4,100 workers in Lehigh and Northampton counties and 21,000 people worldwide. In December, it announced it would cut 1,300 jobs throughout the company in the first half of this year. The company has not announced how many Lehigh Valley positions would be affected, and doesn't expect to have updated employment figures until the fall.

Bloomberg News contributed to this story.

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