Nickel Asia, the Philippines' largest producer of lateritic nickel ore, has announced that its total estimated value of nickel ore shipments reached PHP 12.1 billion ($275.06 million) in 2011, up 51 percent year on year, mainly due to robust demand from nickel pig iron producers in China.
The total volume of nickel ore sold and delivered from Nickel Asia's four operating mines in 2011 increased 25 percent to a record 10.4 million wet metric tons (wmt) compared to the previous year.
Nickel Asia stated that in 2011 it shipped 832,000 wmt of ore to its key Japanese customers, Pacific Metals Co. (Pamco) and Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. (Sumitomo), accounting for 19 percent of total revenues. As regards 2012 estimates, the shipment volume to both customers is expected to be 1.3 million wmt. The company also concluded price negotiations with both customers.