Weak China demand hits Nickel Asia’s profits

The net income of listed mining company Nickel Asia Corp. (NAC) reached P1.7 billion in the first semester of 2023, a decline of 55 percent from P3.8 billion in the same period a year prior as lower metal prices slashed revenues.

NAC, in a disclosure on Thursday, reported that revenues declined by 8 percent to P10.9 billion from P11.8 billion year-on-year.

The firm’s attributable net income for the period would have been 33-percent lower at P1.8 billion from P2.7 billion if the equity interest in the Coral Bay and Taganito high-pressure acid leach (HPAL) projects were excluded.

NAC attributed the lukewarm financial performance to lower nickel ore prices on the back of the growth in Indonesian nickel production and the slowdown in the Chinese economy.

Both HPAL plants sustained a loss of P77.4 million, a reversal from a profit of P1.1 billion last year as metal prices of nickel and cobalt plummeted.

“We may have already seen the bottom of nickel ore prices for this year in the second quarter. The recent pledges from China to bolster their economy will provide a boost to their economic situation and will contribute to drive the demand for Indonesia’s incremental nickel supply,” NAC president and CEO Martin Antonio Zamora said.

The company’s operating mines sold a combined 7.52 million wet metric tons (WMT) of nickel ore, an increment of 8 percent.

It exported 3.66 million WMT of saprolite and limonite ore at the average price of $28.22 per WMT compared to 3.12 million WMT at $42.05 per WMT.

NAC likewise shipped 3.86 million WMT of limonite ore to the Coral Bay and Taganito HPAL plants, realizing an average price of $10.13 per pound of payable nickel for the first six months of the year.

This was lower than the 3.83 million WMT delivered at an average price of $12.52 per pound of payable nickel previously.

Moreover, the weighted average nickel ore sales decreased by 26 percent to $22.32 per WMT from $30.03 per WMT.