Japan's Mitsui Q1 net profit down 8% on lower commodity prices
TOKYO, Aug 1 (Reuters) — Japanese trading house Mitsui & Co on Tuesday posted an 8% fall in first-quarter net profit to 252.8 billion yen ($1.8 billion), year-on-year, hit by lower commodity prices.
Japanese trading houses, including Mitsui and its peers Mitsubishi Corp and Sumitomo Corp, posted record profits last year as commodity prices soared on Russian invasion of Ukraine but have warned this year will be weaker.
Mitsui said on Tuesday that its net profit in the first quarter of 2023/2024 fiscal year took a 44 billion yen hit from a year ago as commodity prices from coal to iron ore and oil and gas went down.
Analysts surveyed by Refinitiv had forecast Mitsui’s first quarter net profit at 253.7 billion yen. Mitsui shares were 1.1% up at 0521 GMT. ($1 = 142.7700 yen) (Reporting by Katya Golubkova; Editing by Kim Coghill)
Related Knowledge Center: Climate economics
Climate change is now a driver of the world’s economy. The impact is profound:
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- Vulnerable communities are increasing climate-related investments, hardening infrastructure and taking other protective measures.
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On top of all of this is the cost of uncertainty. As the Fourth National Climate Assessment, released in 2018 by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, says, “The assumption that current and future climate conditions will resemble the recent past is no longer valid.”