In the second quarter of 2018, the EBITDA of Huntsman's MDI business was nearly 50% higher than in the second quarter of 2017. EBITDA was $246 million in the second quarter of 2018, and 165 million in the second quarter of 2017. MDI business grew 9% year-on-year, with the exception of the spraying bubble business demilec growth of 10% per cent, other differentiated investment business growth of 13%.
, 75% of the company's MDI business comes from the differentiated system business with higher profit margins. The biggest increase in the Americas, compared with the same quarter in 2017, the region's sales increased by 21%. Part of the increase is attributable to Demilec business. In the first quarter of this year, Huntsman announced the acquisition of Demilec, a new business that has increased sales by 5% in the underlying business.
America's growth has also benefited from the company's drive with BASF's Shanghai-owned MDI factory, which means that raw materials from the company's US factories are free for local use. In Asia, 2018 sales have grown 8%, and demand for large-scale infrastructure projects, such as auto projects and regional heating, is driving the region's growth.
New Chinese factories are being put into production and will be fully operational by the end of this year.
In Europe, sales were reduced by some 20 million dollars as a result of third party problems that hit sales. The company's sales in the first half of 2018 were $4.6 billion trillion, a 18% increase from 3.9 billion in the first half of 2017. The company's total profit in the first half of 2018 was 1.1 billion dollars.