The world's largest miner, BHP Billiton, today underlined the growing pain of the resources sector with a 57% slump in first-half profits as demand for its products and the prices of metals plummet.

After more than five years as a story of continual growth in profit and output, London-listed BHP has been hit by the hard times faced by its industry worldwide.

Despite the downturn, BHP is holding up relatively well with underlying earnings in line with expectations. Net profit has been hit by a bigger tax bill than expected and the costs of closing mines and plants. It has also flagged 6000 job cuts.

Although net operating cashflow was a record $13.1 billion (£9.2 billion), up 74%, net profit fell to $2.6 billion in the six months to December from $6.02 billion in the same period last year. One-off charges totalled $3.5 billion, including $2.7 billion for the mine closures.

Revenue grew 17% to $29.8 billion, while profit excluding one-time items rose 2.2% to $6.1 billion. The first-half dividend is 41 cents, up 41%.