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Glencore International Plc, the world’s largest listed commodities trader, said first-half profit jumped 57 percent on higher prices for raw materials.

Net income before other significant items rose to $2.45 billion in the six months ended June 30, from $1.56 billion a year earlier, the Baar, Switzerland-based company said today in a statement. The trader declared its first interim dividend of 5 cents a share.

Glencore, which sold $10 billion in stock in a May initial public offering, has dropped 26 percent since the offer amid a slump in global stocks. BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP), the biggest mining company, yesterday said it’s confident in the commodities outlook and sees “robust demand” in the short- and mid-term.

“We remain optimistic about long-term global economic prospects, and that the trends that underpin the growth of Glencore’s business are firmly in place,” Chief Executive Officer Ivan Glasenberg said in the statement. “The drive towards greater urbanization and improved living standards in countries such as China and India will continue to underpin the growth in global trade.”

Glencore, which owns plants and mines as well as trading operations, rose 6 percent yesterday to 389.6 pence in London trading, giving it a market value of 27 billion pounds ($44 billion). It sold shares in the IPO at 530 pence each.

‘Commodities-Intensive Growth’
The company reported a 32 percent increase in sales to $92.1 billion in the six months. Adjusted earnings before interest and tax from its marketing division increased 45 percent to $1.25 billion and rose 54 percent at the industrial unit to $2.05 billion. Net income in the first quarter rose 47 percent to $1.3 billion, Glencore said June 14.

The average level of the Standard & Poor’s GSCI Spot Index of 24 commodities rose 34 percent from the same period a year earlier. Melbourne-based BHP, which reported fiscal 2011 profit of $23.7 billion yesterday, said demand “will be supported by commodities-intensive emerging economic growth,” including China, India and other emerging economies.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) this month recommended investors buy commodities because growth in emerging economies is enough to tighten supply. The broker joined JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and Morgan Stanley in forecasting gains in commodity prices.

Glencore yesterday offered A$270 million ($282 million), or 87 Australian cents each, for the shares in Minara Resources Ltd. (MRE) it doesn’t already own. The company holds 73.44 percent of Minara, Australia’s second-largest nickel producer.