Sesa Goa net profit falls 7%

Sesa Goa, India’s biggest non-state iron-ore exporter, said its third-quarter profit fell 7 per cent as waning demand from China, the biggest buyer, drove down prices.

Net income fell to Rs 471 crore in the quarter ended December 2008, from Rs 507 crore a year earlier. Sales rose 23 percent to Rs 1,500 crore.

The global recession has curbed demand for steel, prompting mills in Asia, Europe and North America to slash purchases of raw materials. Prices of Indian iron ore for immediate delivery declined to $55 a tonne from a peak of $140 in November, Rahul Baldota, president of the Federation of Indian Mineral Industries, said. Sesa Goa, a unit of Vedanta Resources, exported as much as 66 per cent of its annual 12.4 million tonnes production to China in the year ended March 2008, according to its annual report.