* Q4 EBITDA 180 mln eur vs 177 mln Rtrs poll

* Q4 sales 1.19 bln eur vs 1.15 bln Rtrs poll

* Profit increase also due to higher polysilicon prices (Adds details, shares, comments)

German specialty chemicals maker Wacker Chemie said its core profit rose by 14 percent in the fourth quarter, helped by a recovery in prices and demand for polysilicon, a key material it supplies to the solar industry.

Wacker Chemie said on Thursday its preliminary fourth-quarter earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) came in at 180 million euros ($203 million), beating the 177 million average forecast in a Reuters poll.

"The main reason for the higher earnings was the year-on-year improvement in prices for solar silicon," the company said in a statement on Thursday, adding the business division continued to run its production facilities at full capacity in the fourth quarter.

Sales in the period rose about 10 percent to 1.19 billion euros, also higher than the 1.15 billion analyst forecast.

Shares in Wacker Chemie were indicated 0.2 percent higher, the only gainers among Germany's mid-sized stocks, according to pre-market data.

The company is the world's second-biggest maker of polysilicon after U.S.-based Hemlock Semiconductor, and the business unit accounted for more than half of the group's fourth-quarter core profit.

Prices for polysilicon have recovered strongly over 2014, boosted by strong demand for solar panels in China and ending a margin squeeze in which prices tumbled to less than $20 per kg in 2013 from a 2008 peak of almost $400.

Manufacturing a wide range of products, Wacker Chemie also supplies raw material for half of the world's chewing gum. ($1 = 0.8861 euros)�