Nickel Asia ships P12.3 B worth of nickel ore in 9 months

MANILA, Philippines - Listed Nickel Asia Corp. saw a 40 percent drop in the value of its nickel ore shipments in the first nine months of the year despite a 12 percent increase in shipment volume.

In a report to the local bourse yesterday, Nickel Asia said the estimated value of shipments from January to September reached P12.3 billion, down from the P20.5 billion recorded in the same period last year.

Nickel Asia’s four operating mines sold a total of 15.96 million wet metric tons (WMT) of nickel by the end of the third quarter, higher than the 14.26 million WMT sold the previous year.

Direct exports of ore contributed to the increase in the company’s shipment volume, rising to 10.34 million WMT from 8.87 million WMT.

Ore deliveries to the company’s ore leaching plants also rose during the period as its Taganito plant is now operating at 80 percent capacity. The Taganito mine accounted for 39 percent of total shipments during the nine-month period.

Prices of nickel ore exports in the first three quarters averaged at $22.65 per WMT, significantly lower than the average of $46.85 per WMT in the same period last year.

There was a surge in ore prices last year on speculations of supply tightness as the Indonesian ore export ban took effect. The supply tightness, however, did not materialize because of an increase in supply from other sources and weaker global demand.

Low-grade limonite ore shipped to the Coral Bay and Taganito processing plants, which remain linked to prices at the London Metal Exchange, fetched an average price of $5.74 per pound of payable nickel on 5.62 million WMT sold during the nine-month period.

This is lower than the average price of $7.87 per pound of payable nickel on 5.38 million WMT sold last year.

“The slowdown in China and lackluster world economic growth has led to high metal inventories which has, in turn, taken quite a toll on commodity prices in general,” Nickel Asia president and CEO Gerard Brimo said.

However, he said the drop in nickel prices has already bottomed and he now sees a gradual withdrawal of metal from the LME warehouses.

At current prices, about 60 percent of producers are operating at a loss, a situation unseen in many years,” Brimo said.

Nickel Asia also announced that 66 percent owned Emerging Power Inc. had commenced construction of its P7.7 billion 100 megawatt solar facility at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone.

Emerging Power expects 60MW of total capacity to go on stream before March 15, 2016, allowing the project to avail of the applicable feed-in-tariff rate for solar power.