Brazilian mining company Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (Vale) has reported a strong operational and financial performance in 2008, highlighting several production, sales and financial results, including iron ore and pellet output of 296.241 million mt and coal output of 4.1 million mt.
Accordingly, the miner reported net earnings of $13.2 billion for 2008, with an 11.9 percent increase over the $11.82 billion reported for 2007. Meanwhile, Vale's operational profit in 2008 amounted to $15.7 billion, up 19.0 percent, with EBITDA of $19.0 billion, up from $15.8 billion in 2007. The company reported a historical high of $38.509 million for its gross operating revenue in 2008, up 16.3 percent from $33.115 billion in 2007. In particular, higher iron ore and pellet prices were responsible for a revenue increase of $5.807 billion and $1.711 billion, respectively.
However, as a consequence of weak steel demand, Vale has reduced iron ore production this year, shutting down mines with higher-cost and lower-quality output. Currently, seven of Vale's eight pellet plants and three of its four joint venture plants are temporarily shut down.
2008 was also the first year of operations for Vale's coal business with coal shipments reaching 4.087 million mt, comprised of nearly 2.7 million mt of metallurgical coal and 1.4 million mt of thermal coal. Coal revenues were reported at $577 million in 2008.