Marubeni Corp.'smetals and mineral resources segment's net loss attributable to owners of the parentwidened to ¥65.8 billion in fiscal 2016, from ¥24.1 billion a year ago.

The segment's earnings were hit mainly by impairment losses onthe copper business in Chile and the iron ore business in Australia, according tothe May 10 release.

Gross trading profit for the metals and mineral resources unitdropped ¥17.1 billion to ¥4.8 billion.

The steel products segment posted a ¥5.8 billion year-over-yeardrop in net profit attributable to shareholders, to ¥6.9 billion, as gross tradingprofit remained stable.

On a consolidated basis, Marubeni's profit attributable to shareholdersdropped to ¥62.26 billion, or ¥35.88 per share, a 41% decrease due to impairmentlosses caused by the downturn in resource-related commodity prices.

Annual dividend amounted to ¥21.0 per share in the year, comparedto ¥26.0 a year ago.

The company was expecting the net profit to fall year over yearas it flagged ¥20 billionin impairments on the value of its 15% stake in the A$1.8 billion iron ore project in WesternAustralia and ¥35 billion on its Chilean copper business, as well as ¥15 billionon oil and gas investments in the U.S.

Operating profit dropped 35.1% to ¥104.23 billion due to decreasein gross trading profit and increase in selling, general and administrative expensesand the weaker Japanese yen.

Gross trading profit decreased 5.3% to ¥670.09 billion, whilerevenue was down 6.8% to ¥7.300 trillion, on a yearly basis.

In fiscal 2016, Marubeni expects net profit of ¥130 billion.Operating profit is expected to total ¥100 billion, while profit before tax is expectedto jump 109.8% year over year to ¥190.0 billion.

As of May 10, US$1 wasequivalent to ¥109.05.