Global Ferronickel Holdings Inc. (FNI) on Wednesday said it expects to exceed its target shipment of 5.5 million wet metric tons (WMT) for 2022 after making its first shipment for the year.
The company, the country’s second-largest nickel ore producer, said its wholly-owned export unit Platinum Group Metals Corp. (PGMC) began its shipment to customers in China with 53,700 WMT of low-grade nickel ore bound for Guangdong Century Tsingshan Nickel Industry Co. Ltd.
PGMC is the second-largest value exporter of nickel ore in the country.
“We are upbeat that our mining operations at PGMC have been running seamlessly from the get-go. Weather permitting, we might be able to exceed this year’s target of 5.5 WMT consisting of 60 percent low-grade ore and 40 percent medium-grade ore,” FNI President Dante R. Bravo said
The company said about half of PGMC’s shipment target for 2022 has been allotted for, and the rest will be open to other customers. PGMC has a general nickel ore supply contract with the Guangdong Century and Baosteel Resources International Co. Ltd. for 20 and 30 shipments, respectively. Prevailing market prices for all customers will be determined at the time of their individual order confirmation, the company said.
“We remain bullish as demand from China continues to be strong, and nickel prices have been rising in recent years. And with current global events adversely affecting oil prices, there is a greater appreciation for electric vehicles, which use nickel for their rechargeable batteries,” Bravo said.
The company earlier said its income last year grew 6 percent to P1.98 billion, from the P1.87 billion recorded in 2020.
Revenues rose by 6 percent to P7.71 billion from the previous year’s P7.26 billion.
“We are also delighted with the continued surge in nickel prices, which has allowed us to grow our top and bottom line despite having experienced relatively bad weather conditions throughout last year’s mining season,” Bravo said.
The company said bad weather resulted in a 13-percent decline in shipments. FNI shipped 90 vessels of nickel ore for a total of 4.887 million WMT in 2021 against the 103 vessels totaling 5.62 million WMT in 2020. The resulting product mix was 77 percent, or 3.76 million WMT, of low-grade ore and 23 percent, or 1.12 million WMT, of medium-grade ore.
In 2020, it had a mix of 68 percent, or 3.83 million WMT, of low-grade ore and 32 percent, or 1.79 million WMT, of medium-grade ore.
