By Ernest Scheyder

NEW YORK, May 6 (Reuters) - International Flavors and Fragrances Inc (IFF.N) posted a better-than-expected first-quarter profit on Thursday 6 May as sales jumped across the world for nearly all product categories.

The company makes fragrances and flavors used in a wide range of consumer products, such as perfume and food dyes.

"We continue to be mindful that economic conditions remain fluid and that a portion of our success can be attributed to the benefits of customer restocking," Chief Executive Doug Tough said in a statement. "Nonetheless, we feel confident that the underlying health of our commercial performance is strong."

Net income rose to $63.8 million, or 80 cents per share, compared with $47.2 million, or 60 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding one-time items, including the restructuring of European operations, the company earned 85 cents per share.

By that measure, analysts expected earnings of 82 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue rose 16.8 percent to $653.9 million. Analysts expected $622.1 million.

Sales and operating profit in the company's flavor and fragrance units both rose, though IFF said it had challenges in its confectionary business.

Swiss rival Givaudan (GIVN.VX) said last month its first-quarter sales rose 9.2 percent as consumers splurged again on expensive perfumes.

IFF named Tough as chief executive on March 1. Tough had served as nonexecutive chairman since last October after then-Chief Executive Robert Amen abruptly left his position.

Shares of IFF, which closed Wednesday 5 May at $48.50, have traded between $29.77 and $51.77 in the past 52 weeks.

(Reporting by Ernest Scheyder; Editing by Derek Caney, Dave Zimmerman)