Brazil-based miner Vale has announced its financial results for the third quarter of the current year, reporting a net profit of $3.5 billion, increasing from $1.64 billion in the third quarter of the previous year. The company's sales revenues in the third quarter this year amounted to $12.7 billion, rising by 11.05 percent year on year. Vale saw an operating profit of $4.7 billion, up 75.7 percent compared to the corresponding quarter of the previous year.
According to Vale, the expected recovery in iron ore and pellet shipments standing at 83.6 million mt, the third largest in Vale´s history, and their higher prices were the main drivers of the results achieved in the third quarter. The company also stated that the performance of iron ore prices over the last few months has been influenced by a combination of low iron ore and steel inventories and stronger demand for steel in China.
During the third quarter, Vale produced 85.9 million mt of iron ore, rising 2.3 percent, reaching the second highest quarterly volume in Vale's history, while the miner's pellet production decreased by 17.2 percent to 12.4 million mt, both year on year.
In the first nine months of the year, Vale's iron ore production amounted to 226.6 million mt, falling 3.3 percent, while its pellet production declined by 15.3 percent to 36.4 million mt, both compared to the same period of 2012. Vale produced 5.03 million mt of metallurgical coal in the first nine months, up 39.4 percent year on year. The company's nickel output was 192,000 mt, increasing by 11.3 percent year on year.