Feb 5 (Reuters) -

Air Products and Chemicals cut its forecast for financial year 2024 on Monday citing economic uncertainty in its biggest market Asia, particularly China, and a persistently low demand for helium in the electronics industry.

Shares of the company plummeted to a nearly two-year low, falling as much as 15.9% in early trade.

For the full year, the company forecast adjusted profit to be between $12.20 and $12.50 per share, compared with analysts' average estimate of $12.97, according to LSEG data.

"The economic situation in China is not as robust as people might think," said Chief Executive Officer Seifi Ghasemi.

"We did not expect the weakness in helium the way it has materialized... that is one of the reasons we lowered our guidance, because we are allowing for the fact that it might continue, but we don't know for sure."

Chemicals companies experienced headwinds globally in 2023 due to softer demand in key markets such as Europe and Asia, where post-pandemic economic recovery has been sluggish.

Peers Dow and LyondellBasell both forecast muted sales for the current quarter, flagging weakness in demand amid persistent economic uncertainty.

Pennsylvania-based Air Products and Chemicals posted an adjusted profit of $2.82 per share for the first quarter of 2024, lower than analysts' estimate of $3 per share, according to LSEG data.

The company forecast second-quarter adjusted earnings of between $2.60 to $2.75 per share, also below analysts' expectation of $3.16 per share.

For the reported quarter, sales in its Europe unit fell 7.7% year-on-year, to $731 million, while sales in the Asia segment rose nearly 2.1% in the same period.

Air Products said the second half of the year would be stronger on seasonality as more of its projects come online.

However, it said the sustainable aviation fuels facility it was building at World Energy's Paramount facility in California would only begin commercial operations by 2027 due to delays in obtaining necessary permits. (Reporting by Roshia Sabu, Kabir Dweit and Seher Dareen in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai and Shweta Agarwal)