We'll start with an executive summary of our first half 2024 results. We saw a resilient first half 2024 for the consolidated results, with strong downstream contribution. We can see revenue increasing by 5% to $5.14 billion U.S., and this was despite the lower CPO price that we experienced in the first half. This was compensated by the higher sales volume that we achieved. EBITDA increased by 4% to $495 million U.S. with healthy EBITDA margins, both for the upstream, at 23.4%, and the downstream at 5.5%. Underlying profit was lower by 14%, at $189 million U.S. This was caused by the higher financing expenses amidst the high interest environments that we are currently facing.
If you look on the right-hand side, the graph, the bar chart, you can see that the upstream, the plantation contribution was stable relative to first half 2023 after the price normalization that we saw after the very high prices that we had in 2022. If you look at the gray part of the chart, the downstream contribution, you can see that we have been gradually able to enhance the contribution to our EBITDA. When we look at the first half results, we had, throughout the value chain, a good performance despite the lower CPO price as well as lower plantation outputs. If we look at the first half results compared to first half last year, I already discussed top line improvements, and underlying profits are slightly lower because of the higher interest rates.
We saw net profit also being lower at $102 million compared to $182 for first half last year. This was primarily because of a foreign exchange loss compared to a gain last year. This loss is largely unrealized and are simply Indonesian rupiah assets that are lower in U.S. dollar terms because of the depreciation of the rupiah against U.S. dollar. When we look at the quarter-on-quarter results, we see good improvements with a 14% higher EBITDA at $231 million. Underlying profit 40% higher, and net profit 76% higher at $65 million. This was primarily because of the recovery in plantation outputs. First quarter is typically the lowest we're using. We see an increase in plantation outputs in the second quarter that we expect to continue in the second half.
We come to our balance sheet, and the financial position remained healthy because of the management's prudence financial management. We can see here that net debt increased, but this was a very small increase in absolute terms simply because net debt levels are very low. As a result, we continue to see strong ratios. For example, the debt equity was at 0.61 x net debt over EBITDA, 0.53 x, and EBITDA over interest was 4.18 x. We then come to the segmental results, starting with the upstream, the plantations and palm oil mills. As I already mentioned, we had somewhat lower palm product outputs in the first half of the year. This was for two main reasons. One, we had the El Niño drought condition in 2023 impacting our production this year.
Also we continue to prepare old estates for replanting, which also impacts the production temporarily. Palm products output came down by 9% to 1.2 million tons. Financial performance, however, remained robust. This was because on the cost side, we saw a reduction, primarily because of the enhanced procurement strategy for fertilizers. The weakening of the rupiah that I mentioned earlier also helped us in the cost, as most of our costs in Indonesia are in rupiah, mostly the salaries. For the plantations, we continue to rely on technological innovation and replanting with high-yielding seeds to ensure the long-term productivity growth. If we look at the mature area and planted area, they were slightly lower year-on-year, and this was driven by the replanting activity that actually accelerated to 10,800 hectares in the first half, compared to 6,400 hectares in the first half of last year.
For the full year, we target 20,000 hectares of replanting. As a result of this program, we have been able to maintain an average age of 15 and a half years, with most of our trees in the green segment of the pie chart on the right-hand side. That's where the production is the highest, between seven to [18] years. This is the downstream segment, and here we see that we have been able to maintain our very good EBITDA margin at 5.5% for the first half, on the back of an increase in revenue by 5%, as well as sales volume by 11% at 5.7 million tons.
What we see is that over the past few years, we have been working on further enhancing our integrated business model that we see as a key strength of Golden Agri-Resources, as well as pursuing higher value-added downstream products that give us better margins. For that reason, we believe we will be able to maintain a good 5% EBITDA margin for our downstream operations. Then we come to the business strategy, and the strategic focus remains to fortify our position as an innovative and leading integrated agribusiness and food player with superior at-scale upstream and resilient value-adding downstream business. For the upstream, the focus is on the yield intensification, primarily through the replanting with high-yield seeds, as I mentioned, as well as the precision agriculture and best agronomic practices at our plantations.
In terms of cost efficiencies, we are increasingly implementing advanced mechanization and automation to increase productivity and reduce costs. On the downstream side, the focus is on value-added product enhancements, so we are developing a large portfolio of products and services that differentiates through their level of quality. They are healthier alternatives. They are sustainably produced, and on top of that, we also have an end-to-end distribution logistics network. The targeted capital expenditure for this year is up to $300 million, of which about one-third is for the upstream, basically the 20,000 hectares replanting, as well as some infrastructure works supporting infrastructure. The remainder, two-thirds, is for the downstream expansion of some of our refining capacity, oleochemicals, and kernel crushing as well. Finally, also some enhancements in the logistics facilities to allow for the traceability of our products.
Finally, we also have several carbon emission reduction initiatives. Then we come to the industry outlook, which remains very positive, we believe. The supply and demand situation remains tight as we see a slowdown in production growth in 2024 for edible oils, particularly palm oil, for the reasons that I already mentioned, the weather conditions that we experienced last year. However, the current geopolitical tensions and continued extreme weather conditions are expected to keep production growth modest. On the demand side, at the same time, we see an acceleration. Of course, we have the food and oleochemical use, but we also see continued initiatives in the biofuel industry throughout the world, including Indonesia, which is considering to move from the current B35 program to B40 next year.
Palm oil enjoys a competitive advantage over the other vegetable oils through its high productivity, highest yielding per hectare compared to the seed oils, also the lowest price, typically, and a wide range of uses. The final slide about our ongoing sustainability initiatives will be presented by Anita.
Thanks, Richard. Good morning, everybody. Wanted to touch on a couple of things. EUDR, the EU Deforestation Regulation. We've been continuing our preparation here, building on our strong foundation through our investment in traceability to plantation, satellite monitoring, and SAP enterprise resource planning. We're enhancing our systems, including the development of blockchain, to be ready with EUDR due diligence information before the end of the year, and are in active dialogue with regulators, stakeholders, and key EU-based customers on the latest EUDR developments. Beyond palm, we're extending our traceability efforts and have already achieved full traceability to the mill for non-palm commodities that include soy, sugar, and coconut. We're at about 50% traceability to mill for sunflower oil. We're being able to do this effectively and efficiently by drawing on the experience we've had in the palm sector to extend oversight and help our non-palm suppliers become more sustainable.
Beyond our regulatory preparedness, we're also focused on how we can uplift communities where we operate across Indonesia with specific focus on MSMEs, where we grew our projects from 58 - 101 of these MSMEs. This enables communities to earn more income through selling value-added products. We call this our Bright Future Initiatives. BFI projects include things like organic vegetable growing, cash crops, and livestock farming, and things like the development of e-marketing businesses like the wedding dowry image that's on the slide. Thanks