Nickel Asia shipment values up 20% in 2018

Nickel Asia Corp. (NAC) on Thursday reported a 20-percent increase in the value of shipments last year, driven by the higher export volumes.

Shipment value grew to P17.29 billion in 2018 from P14.43 billion a year earlier, miner said in a regulatory filing submitted by NAC chief financial officer Emmanuel Samson.

“The increase was due to a combination of higher export volume, improved prices, and a more favorable peso to US dollar exchange rate,” the filing read.

The company sold an aggregate 19.35 million wet metric tons (WMT) of nickel ore from its four operating mines in 2018, at an average price of $16.86 per WMT.

This compares with17.70 million WMT at an average price of $16.17 per WMT in 2017.

The Philippine peso fell to its lowest level in nearly 13 years last year when it closed at P54.325:$1 on September 26, 2018, the weakest since hitting P54.425:$1 on November 22, 2005.

“Despite the significant jump in nickel ore supply from Indonesia, we are delighted that the Company still managed to increase its shipments for the year,” NAC president Martin Antonio G. Zamora said.

NAC is primarily engaged in mining all kinds of ore, metals and minerals, as well as generating, transmitting, distributing, and supplying electricity to cities and other localities.

The company currently exports its products to Japan, China, and Australia. —VDS, GMA News