Kyodo News reported that seven major Japanese trading companies have reported heavy year on year declines in their group sales and profits in the April to September of first half of fiscal 2009 due to plunges in resource prices and a car market slump.

Their consolidated sales drops ranged from 20% to 40% as metal and energy sales plunged on sharp falls in prices of iron ore, crude oil and other resources. Their group net profit declines ranged from 40% to 80%.

Mitsui & Co said that its group net profit in the period plunged 69.7% from a year earlier to JPY 72.84 billion on JPY 5.36 trillion in sales, down 40.3%. At Mitsubishi Corporation, the largest of the seven companies, net profit declined by 52.5% YoY to JPY 137.42 billion as sales dropped by 38.8% YoY to JPY 8.07 trillion.

(Sourced from Kyodo News)