Mitsubishi Corp., Japan’s largest trading company, said profit may rise 25 percent this year as soaring oil and coal prices bolster revenue from its energy and commodities businesses.

Net income will probably climb to a record of 580 billion yen ($5.6 billion yen) in the year that started April 1, from 463 billion yen in the previous period, Mitsubishi said in a statement to the Tokyo Stock Exchange today. Revenue is forecast to increase to 25 trillion yen from 23.1 trillion yen.

Mitsubishi is benefiting from rising prices for commodities, which generate more than half the company’s profit. BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance, a venture with BHP Billiton Ltd., agreed with Nippon Steel Corp., the world’s second-biggest maker of the alloy, to triple its coking coal prices. Oil reached a record near $120 a barrel in New York this week.

“Spikes in coking coal contracts and liquefied natural gas prices in tandem with record crude oil are the driving force behind Mitsubishi’s strong bottom line,” Allel Sharipov, an analyst specializing in trading companies at UBS Securities Japan, said before today’s announcement. “Mitsubishi is ready to tap increased cash-flow and allocate part of it to its acquisition budget for more assets at home and abroad.”

Ichiro Mizuno, Mitsubishi senior executive vice president, said in October that demand from Brazil, Russia, India and China is extending a period of commodity-price gains that might be “an epoch-making paradigm shift that could take place once in 100 years.”

Record Prices

Under the accord with Mitsubishi and BHP, Nippon Steel will pay $300 a metric ton for the current financial year, up from $98 a ton in the year ended March 31. Crude oil futures reached a record $119.93 a barrel on April 28, and gained 76 percent in the last year.

Japan’s LNG costs rose 18 percent to 50,891 yen a metric ton in the year ended March 31, according to data compiled by the finance ministry. Mitsubishi and Mitsui & Co. together hold a one-sixth stake in the North West Shelf, Australia’s largest resources venture, and export the chilled gas to Japanese utilities including Tokyo Gas Co. and Tokyo Electric Power Co.

Goldman Sachs Japan Co. predicts the country’s import costs will increase 83 percent in the next two years and reach an average of $816 a ton by March 2010 on higher oil prices, Hiroyuki Sakaida, an analyst at Goldman Sachs, said in a research note dated April 4.

Business Plan

Under its business plan announced separately today, Mitsubishi will allocate a maximum of 1.5 trillion yen during two years through March 2010 for capital spending. The trading house targets net income of 700 billion yen for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2010.

Record profit may prompt Mitsubishi to accelerate acquisition of cash-flow generating assets at home. The trading house and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. are setting up a 100 billion yen buyout fund to invest in a variety of Japanese companies both publicly traded and private.

For the year ended March 31, profit rose to 462.8 billion yen from 415.5 billion yen a year earlier, Mitsubishi said in the statement. Sales gained 12.6 percent to 23.1 trillion yen.

The company predicts profit from its metals division will more than double from 158.2 billion yen in the year ended in March to 350 billion yen for the year started in April. Profit from its energy business will probably rise to 100 billion yen from 94.2 billion yen.

Mitsubishi fell 3.2 percent to close at 3,340 yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The shares gained 30 percent in the last 12 months.

Sumitomo Forecast

Sumitomo Corp., Japan’s third-largest trading company by market value, said it expects profit to gain 1.7 percent this fiscal year as demand for steelmaking materials stokes prices for coking coal and on a decline in hedging costs for a Bolivian silver, zinc and lead mining project.

Net income will probably climb to 243 billion yen in the year ending March 31, after gaining to a record 238.9 billion yen in the year just ended, the Tokyo-based company said today in a stock exchange statement.

“Strong performance” and consolidation at its Jupiter Telecommunications cable TV unit, the merger of its auto leasing operation and a decrease in interest expenses as U.S. borrowing costs decline will also contribute to profit this fiscal year, the company said today in a statement on its Web site.

Marubeni, Itochu

Marubeni Corp., Japan’s biggest importer of petrochemicals, said profit will probably jump 12 percent this fiscal year amid rising demand for the oil and grains it sells.

Net income is expected to climb to 165 billion yen, after rising to a record 147.2 billion yen in the year ended March 31, the Tokyo-based company said today in a stock exchange statement.

Profit is increasing on investments in oil, natural gas and coal projects outside Japan as soaring Chinese demand for energy and other commodities pushes up prices.

Itochu Corp., Japan’s fourth-largest trading company, forecast a 9.8 percent increase in profit boosted by higher oil prices.

Net income will probably rise to 240 billion yen in the year ending March 31, after soaring to a record 218.6 billion yen in the previous year.