KT&G Corp., South Korea's dominant tobacco firm, said Thursday its earnings sank nearly 16 percent in the second quarter of the year despite a slight rise in sales.

KT&G said in a regulatory filing its consolidated net income came to 246.4 billion won ($215.3 million) in the April-June period, down 15.9 percent from a year earlier.

Operating profit fell 16.2 percent on-year to 330.1 billion won, while sales increased 2.1 percent to 1.35 trillion won.

KT&G said its second-quarter net profit dropped due to a strong local currency and a decrease in earnings of non-tobacco subsidiaries.

KT&G sold 10.34 billion cigarettes in the domestic market in the three-month period, down 170 million from a year earlier. It accounted for 64.1 percent of the domestic market, up 0.7 point.

Its overseas sales shrank 14.4 percent on-year to 11.9 billion cigarettes from a year earlier due to weaker demand from the Middle East.

Korea Ginseng Corp. (KGC), a subsidiary of KT&G, saw its second-quarter sales fall 6.6 percent on-year to 259.3 billion won, with its operating income plunging 67.5 percent to 6.5 billion won. (Yonhap)