Global Ferronickel Holdings Inc. (FNI), a leading nickel ore producer in the Philippines, reported a 67.6 percent drop in attributable net income to P502.6 million in the first nine months of 2024 due to lower nickel prices.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), the firm said this includes the net income of investment in associates of P192 million. On a per-share basis, earnings were P0.0981, down from P0.3021 the previous year.

“We continue to focus on operating efficiently and managing costs, while building and keeping momentum,” FNI President Dante R. Bravo said.

“For the first three quarters of the year, our shipment volume rose to the highest level since 2021. We expect this strong performance to remain towards the end of the year and over the course of next year, especially now that we have entered Indonesia, a new market for our low-grade and medium-grade nickel ore,” he added.

He noted that, “in addition to this positive development, we also saw prices firm up month-on-month since September for low-grade, nickel-low-iron ore products, which have been our most sold product category by volume."

“While it is not a significant acceleration yet, we believe our prudent cost and operations management positions us to stay profitable in changing market conditions,” said Bravo.

Mining revenues were down 15.3 percent to P5.72 billion compared to the first nine months of 2023, resulting from a lower nickel ore pricing environment partially offset by strong shipment volumes.

The average realized nickel ore price declined to $23.39 per wet metric ton (WMT), down 26.8 percent from $31.93 in the prior-year period.

Medium-grade ore prices averaged $30.82 per WMT, down 35.4 percent, while low-grade ores sold at $19.42 per WMT, down 21 percent.

Various factors affected market prices, including, but not limited to, demand fluctuations in China and Indonesia, stainless steel and low-grade nickel pig iron production, supply chain disruptions from maintenance shutdowns of some steel mills, and supply growth in Indonesia, which outweighed production cuts and mine closures in the rest of the world.

Total sales volume was 4.27 million WMT, up 12.3 percent, with growth across both Surigao and Palawan mine sites, reflecting prior and ongoing investments to expand production and improve productivity.

Low-grade ores comprised 65 percent of total sales volume, and medium-grade ores accounted for 35 percent, compared to the corresponding shares of 68 percent and 32 percent last year.

At FNI’s Surigao mine, shipment volumes rose to 3.16 million WMT, up 16.7 percent against the prior-year level, due to favorable weather conditions and better equipment availability, including chartered landing craft tanks, transportation, and water trucks.

At its Palawan site, volumes were 1.11 million WMT, up 1.4 percent year-on-year, driven by favorable weather conditions, development of mine facilities and causeways, optimized logistics and human resources processes, and increased equipment availability.