PT Inco reports rise in nickel sales in Q3, decline in output

JSX-listed PT International Nickel Indonesia (Inco) said Monday that its unaudited sales in third-quarter this year increased by 40 percent to US$307.61 million from $219.39 million in the same quarter last year.

Inco said that average sales price is US$9.53 per pound in the quarter, compared to $5.39 per pound in the corresponding 2005 period.

Output in the third quarter of this year was 37.8 million pounds of nickel-in-mate, down from 43.3 million pounds in the same quarter last year.

?The decline in the output was mainly due to a fire at No. 2 furnace's transformer in late May. It took nearly 12 weeks to fix the furnace and to bring it back into operation in mid August,? Inco said in its quarterly report.

The company earned a net income of $124.63 million, in the quarter ended Sept. 30, nearly double the net income of US$62.37 million in the same quarter of 2005.

Cost of production in the third quarter of 2006 rose 51 percent to $3.36 per pound from $2.22 per pound in the same period last year due to lower output and rising fuel prices, Inco added.

The company?s cash balance stood at $199.2 million by the end of third quarter this year compared to $264.3 million in the same period last year.

PT Inco has lowered its 2006 production target from 168 million pounds of nickel-in-mate to between 158 and 159 pounds of nickel-in-mate.

PT Inco produced 168 million pounds of nickel-in-matte last year. (denny)