Glencore H1 profit falls on China-led drop in raw material prices

Glencore Plc, the commodity trader and miner headed by billionaire Ivan Glasenberg, reported a 56 percent slump in first-half profit as its trading unit failed to offset a Chinese-led drop in raw material prices.

Adjusted net income declined to $882 million from $2.01 billion a year ago, the Baar, Switzerland-based company said on Wednesday. That beat the $711 million average of seven analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. The company, which will pay a dividend of 6 cents a share, cut its full-year forecast for trading profit.

The world's biggest natural resources companies are battling a slump in commodity prices that has left copper and oil near six-year lows as China's economy expands at the slowest pace in a quarter of a century. Glasenberg said in an interview that nobody can read the Chinese economy right now.