TOKYO, April 23 (Reuters) - Japanese electric motor maker Nidec on Tuesday posted an operating loss for the January to March quarter, hit by the costs of restructuring steps taken to deal with fierce price competition in China's electric vehicle market.

The company's fourth-quarter operating loss was 6.17 billion yen ($40 million), undershooting an average estimate for a 21.48 billion yen profit in a survey of eight analysts by LSEG.

For the current business year to March 2025, the precision motor maker expects its operating profit to grow 41% from a year earlier to 230 billion yen, still missing an average estimate of a 242.93 billion yen profit by 18 analysts.

($1 = 154.7300 yen) (Reporting by Daniel Leussink, Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)