TOKYO :Japanese trading houses Mitsubishi Corp and Sumitomo Corp posted declines in first-quarter net profit on Thursday, moving away from record-high earnings as global commodity prices fell.
Fossil fuels such as liquefied natural gas and thermal coal have fallen more than 60 per cent and 70 per cent, respectively, in price so far this year, coming off peaks last year following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – when trading houses posted record profit.
Mitsubishi saw profit in the first quarter of the fiscal year ending March 2024 fall 40.5 per cent to 317.7 billion yen ($2.21 billion), albeit beating the market expectation of 224.3 billion yen, and which was still its second-highest ever.
Peer Sumitomo posted a 16.6 per cent drop in April-June profit to 129.4 billion yen versus the 121.4 billion yen average forecast of analysts surveyed by Refinitiv.
On Tuesday, trading house Mitsui & Co also posted an 8 per cent fall in first-quarter profit at 252.8 billion yen, after taking a 44 billion yen hit from lower commodity prices.
($1 = 143.5800 yen)
