Japan's top trading house Mitsubishi Corporation as saying that lower commodity prices and labor action at its Australian coking coal subsidiary weighed on quarterly earnings.

The company said that its net profit slipped 15.2% to JPY 98.14 billion in the 3 months to June from a year ago while revenue edged down 0.8% to JPY 4.8 trillion in the quarter.

Mitsubishi blamed the revenue drop on lower prices and falling output at the coal project amid the labor strife. A strong yen and higher sales and administrative costs also weighed.

The coal project an alliance between Mitsubishi and Anglo and Australian mining giant BHP Billiton has been beset by weather problems and a long running dispute over wages and worker participation in business strategy. The project, which is now operating at about 70% capacity is a major earnings driver for Mitsubishi.

The Japanese firm said that the joint venture would likely reach a settlement with its workers this month and resume full operations around the end of September. For the fiscal year to March 2013, Mitsubishi kept its forecast for a net profit of JPY 500 billion up 10.2 percent from the previous year.

Source - Agence France Presse

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