DUBAI, July 28 (Reuters) - The acting chief executive of Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) said on Thursday that its costs in the second quarter of 2016 dropped by 18 percent from the first three months of the year.

Yousef Abdullah al-Benyan told a news conference that the firm, one of the world's largest petrochemicals groups, was helped by a restructuring programme as well as a drop in feedstock prices in Europe and China.

However, sales in the second quarter dropped 18.1 percent from a year earlier to 34.5 billion riyals ($9.2 billion) as lower product prices continued to weigh on its business.

The company's performance is closely tied to oil prices and global economic growth because its products - plastics, fertilisers and metals - are used extensively in construction, agriculture, industry and the manufacturing of consumer goods.

SABIC on Wednesday reported a 23.2 percent slump in second-quarter net profit to 4.74 billion riyals, its eight successive quarterly profit decline.

(Reporting by Marwa Rashad and Reem Shamseddine; Writing by David French; Editing by Andrew Torchia) ((davidj.french@thomsonreuters.com; +971 4 362 5864; Reuters Messaging: davidj.french.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))