LX International Corp. said Friday its second-quarter profit shrank 55.4 percent from a year earlier as mineral prices and shipping rates remained sluggish.
Operating income reached 129.2 billion won (US$101 million) for the April-June period, compared with 289.4 billion won the previous year, the resources trading company said in a regulatory filing.
Sales fell 31.5 percent to 3.44 trillion won. Net income came to 72.1 billion won, down 68.8 percent from a year earlier.
The earnings fell behind market expectations. The average estimate of net profit by analysts stood at 93.5 billion won, according to a survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial data firm of Yonhap News Agency.
"Resource prices and freight rates, which had trended higher last year, turned downward due to a global economic downturn and the price decline in LCD panels, a main trading product, also affected the bottom line," LX International said.
The Newcastle Coal Prices, a benchmark price index for coal contracts in Asia, fell to $161 a ton in the second quarter, from $377 a year earlier. The Indonesian Coal Index, or ICI4, dropped to $65 a ton from $89 in the same period.
The Shanghai Containerized Freight Index dipped to 985 points from 4,208 points.
LX International said it will continue the push for secondary battery materials, such as lithium and nickel, as a source of future growth, and seek opportunities to expand the portfolios to renewable energy including biomass and hydropower.
LX International, formerly LG International Corp., is engaged in the development and trading of minerals, industrial materials, and electrical and electronic components, as well as mining and logistics.
Source: Yonhap News Agency