PASAR exports up 67% to $153.64M in Q1

The Philippine Associated Smelting and Refining Corp. (PASAR) reported yesterday that its export receipts from January to March this year amounted to $153.64 million, increasing by 67 percent from $92 million in the same period last year.

According to PASAR president Bruce Anderson, the growth in PASAR’s sales is due to higher metal output and the current high metal prices.

Anderson pointed out that PASAR has been able to sustain its strong production performance since last year. "Operational efficiencies that are being put in place have been producing good results for the company," Anderson said.

PASAR’s copper cathode production went up by 10.12 percent to 39,536 metric tons (MT) in the first quarter of this year from 35,902 MT last year.

Cathodes or refined copper accounted for $108.9 million of PASAR’s export sales during the first quarter of this year, almost double its previous year’s sales figure of $61 million.

PASAR’s export sales from ore or gold and silver metals also went up by 42 percent to $43.5 million from $30.5 million last year.

Additional export sales from by-products comprised of sulfuric acid, selenium powder, copper slag, magnetic concentrate and EP dust nearly doubled to generate an additional $1.27 million for the company.

Around 90 percent of PASAR’s total cathode output is exported, while the rest is sold domestically.

More than half of PASAR’s exports go to China, while the rest goes to Korea, Taiwan and South East Asia.

PASAR’s sprawling 80-hectare copper smelter and refinery complex is located at the Leyte Industrial and Development Estate in Isabel, Leyte.

PASAR, the country’s only copper smelting and refining firm, is majority-owned by a consortium comprise of Swiss-based Glencore International and local investors.