Antam to raise sales volume to offset lower prices

State-owned miner PT Aneka Tambang (Antam) plans to raise the volume of its ferronickel sales this year to 18,000 tons from the initial target of 17,000 tons in a bid to offset the fall in prices in the world market.

Antam?s corporate secretary Bimo Budi Satriyo said in Jakarta on Tuesday that the rise in the sales volume would be needed in order to halt the fall in the sales revenue as the result of the lower prices.

Antam?s net profit plunged by 49 percent during the first semester of this year due to the fall in the company?s ferronickel prices during the period.

According to Bimo, the average of the company?s realized ferronickel prices dropped by 31 percent in the first half of this year to US$12.38 per pound from $17.93 per pound during the same period, last year. (*)