UPDATE 2-Southern Copper Q1 net profit up 2.4 pct

(Adds molybdenum output, quote, derivative contracts)

LIMA, April 25 (Reuters) - Southern Copper (SPC.LM) (PCU.N), a leading global metals producer, said on Friday its first-quarter net profit rose 2.4 percent from the same period a year ago, as copper output fell but prices rose.

Southern, which is controlled by Grupo Mexico (GMEXICOB.MX) and operates mines and metallurgical facilities in Mexico and Peru, said its net profit in the January through March period was $565 million, compared with $551.7 million a year earlier.

The company said average copper prices rose to $3.53-$3.54 per pound in the first three months of 2008 from $2.69-$2.70 per pound in the same period last year.

Higher prices for the red metal partially offset lower output, which fell some 25 percent in the first quarter to 127,862 tonnes from 171,273 tonnes in the same quarter a year ago.

The company said lower copper production was because of maintenance work at its Caridad mine and because of a strike at its Cananea mine in Mexico.

Quarterly net sales rose to $1.49 billion, up some 10.4 percent from $1.36 billion a year earlier.

"The increase in sales was mostly the result of higher prices for most of our metals and an increase in the production of molybdenum from the first quarter of 2007," the company said in a statement.

Molybdenum output rose to 8.7 million pounds in the first quarter of 2008, up some 7.4 percent from the same period last year.

The company also announced it had entered into copper derivative contracts to protect some 395.6 million pounds of planned production. The contracts, which have an average price floor of $3.40 and an average price ceiling of $4.23, cover roughly 30 percent of what Southern plans to produce for the year.

On Thursday, the company said it will pay a quarterly dividend of $1.70 per share, payable June 3, to shareholders registered by May 14. (Reporting by Maria Luisa Palomino; Writing by Dana Ford; editing by Carol Bishopric)