Nov. 4--TOKYO -- Seven major Japanese trading companies have reported heavy year-on-year declines in their group sales and profits in the April to September first half of fiscal 2009 due to plunges in resource prices and a car market slump.

Their consolidated sales drops ranged from 20 percent to 40 percent 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 percent to 80 percent.

Mitsui & Co., which announced its earnings report for the fiscal first-half Wednesday, said its group net profit in the period plunged 69.7 percent from a year earlier to 72.84 billion yen on 5.36 trillion yen in sales, down 40.3 percent.

"As downside economic risks are still lingering, we must pay attention to trends of the real economy," Mitsui's Executive Vice President Junichi Matsumoto said.

At Mitsubishi Corp., the largest of the seven companies, net profit declined 52.5 percent to 137.42 billion yen as sales dropped 38.8 percent to 8.07 trillion yen.

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