Brazilian mining giant Vale, the world's largest iron ore producer, said Thursday it lost $3.12 billion in the first quarter because of a steep depreciation in the Brazilian currency and falling prices.

The earnings report was more bad news for a company which had already lost $1.85 billion in the last three months of 2014.

The first quarter performance compares to profits of $2.52 billion in the same three month period of 2014.

Markets had expected a poor earnings report from Vale for the three months ending March.

The loss was due primarily to a 20.8 percent depreciation of the Brazilian real against the US dollar, the company said in a statement.

Revenue for the quarter fell 34.3 percent, from $9.68 billion to $6.36 billion as both sales and commodity prices fell, it added.