By Jeffrey T. Lewis

SAO PAULO--Brazilian mining giant Vale SA's profit jumped in the second quarter from a year earlier as the price of iron ore more than doubled and demand from China was strong.

Vale said Wednesday it had net income of $7.6 billion in the period from $995 million in the second quarter of 2020. Net operating revenue rose to $16.7 billion from $7.5 billion in the year-earlier period. The company reported adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $11 billion, up from $3.4 billion a year earlier.

Vale is the world's biggest iron-ore producer and more than half its sales of the mineral usually go to China, so the state of the Asian country's economy is very important to the Brazilian company. In the second quarter, China's economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic slowed, but gross domestic product still grew 7.9% from the same period a year earlier.

The reference price for iron ore more than doubled from a year earlier to $200 from $93 in the second quarter of last year, Vale said.

Vale said earlier this month that its output of iron ore rose 12% in the second quarter from a year earlier, while sales increased 23.1% in the same period.

Write to Jeffrey T. Lewis at jeffrey.lewis@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

07-28-21 2023ET