Nov. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Kubota Corp., Asia’s largest tractor maker, said first-half profit fell on weaker demand for construction machinery and the yen’s strength against the dollar.

Net income fell 46 percent to 19.3 billion yen ($213 million) in the six months ended Sept. 30, the company said today in a statement. Sales fell 22 percent to 444.6 billion yen.

Sales of construction machinery dropped 47 percent to 28.3 billion yen, while revenue from tractors, Kubota’s main business, fell 32 percent to 134 billion yen. Kubota President Yasuo Masumoto said U.S. tractor sales may have stopped declining.

“Still, I don’t think sales will recover very soon to the level that we had a few years ago,” he said today at a news conference in Osaka, where the company is based.

Kubota, which gets about half of its revenue from outside Japan, is seeing a recovery in sales of construction machinery in the U.S. and Europe, said Masumoto, adding that a sales increase in the business is possible in the second half.

The company today raised its annual profit forecast to 41.5 billion yen from 40 billion yen. It posted a 48.1 billion yen profit a year earlier.

Kubota shares rose 1.9 percent to 709 yen as of 3 p.m. on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The stock has risen 12 percent this year, compared with a 1.7 percent gain in benchmark Topix Index.

To contact the reporter on this story: Masatsugu Horie in Osaka at mhorie3@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 6, 2009 03:46 EST