GLOBAL Ferronickel Holdings Inc. (FNI), the country’s second-largest nickel producer, said it surpassed its 2018 shipment target, but the total volume fell slightly compared to its 2017 export record.
In a disclosure to the local bourse, FNI said it completed its 2018 shipments and was able to export 5.709 million wet metric tons of nickel ore, 3.8 percent higher than the firm’s 5.5 million WMT full-year target. However, the mining firm’s 2018 total shipment volume was 4.39 percent lower than the 5.971 million WMT it exported in 2017.
“Favorable weather conditions and enhanced operational efficiencies enabled the company to breach the 100-vessel mark, registering a total of 103 shipments with the last vessel departing on October 31, 2018,” FNI said in a statement.
FNI said lower global nickel prices forced the firm to focus on exporting higher-grade ores instead of lowergrades “to maximize profitability.”
“It was only this year as opposed to the past several years when the company was able to produce and ship nickel ore at a higher mediumgrade of 1.65 percent to take advantage of its relatively high price and better margins,” it said.
FNI said it exported a total of 3.051 million WMT of medium-grade nickel ore, while the remaining volume of 2.6587 million WMT was of lower-grade ores. About 600,000 WMT of the total medium-grade nickel ores shipped by FNI had a nickel content of 1.65 percent.
“The resulting sales mix is 47 percent low-grade ores and 53 percent medium-grade ores, as against 61 percent low-grade ores and 39 percent medium-grade ores for 2017,” FNI said.