Manila, Philippines / November 13, 2019. Global Ferronickel Holdings, Inc. (FNI), the second largest nickel ore exporter in the Philippines, saw its revenue and net income increase in the 3 rd quarter of 2019 buoyed by the rise in nickel ore prices. As of 30 September 2019, the Company recorded revenues of ₱4.79 billion, up 5.4% compared to ₱4.54 billion in the first nine months of 2018. Net income jumped35% to ₱804.95 million compared to ₱595.43 million in the same period last year.
The average realized price of nickel ore sold in the first nine months continued to improve at US$ 19.88/WMT, up by 9.3% compared to last year. “We are counting on the price of nickel to continue its upward momentum, especially with the Indonesian government’s recent decision to ban the export of nickel ore from next year,” said Atty. Dante R. Bravo, FNI president.
The volume of shipment for the nine months ending 30 September 2019 is down to 1.5% at 4.642 million WMT as against 4.711 million WMT of nickel ore for the previous period with the same number of 85 vessels. This is due to management’s decision to ship more higher-grade nickel ore to take advantage of better prices. The resulting product mix was 42% low-grade ore and 58% medium-grade ore in 2019 versus the previous period’s mix of 43% low-grade ore and 57% medium-grade ore. These shipments sold solely to Chinese customers consisted of 1.953 million WMT low-grade nickel ore and 2.689 million WMT medium-grade nickel ore compared to 2.046 million WMT low-grade nickel ore and 2.665 million WMT medium-grade nickel ore of the same period in 2018.
“We are delighted with our output as it marked a strong end to our operations for the year. But we shall continue to find ways to enhance our performance and be well positioned to take advantage of growth opportunities as we look to 2020,” said Atty. Bravo.