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Indonesian resources firm PT Antam produced and sold less ferro-nickel and nickel ore on the year in 2022.
Ferro-nickel output fell by 5.7pc to 24,334t in 2022 from 25,818t in 2021, while sales dropped by 4.9pc to 24,710t from 25,992t, the firm said in its latest quarterly report. October-December output totalled 6,246t, dropping by 7.1pc from 6,722t in the same period of 2021.
Recent base metal market volatility has led the firm to focus on cost efficiencies, stable production and expansion into new export markets for its ferro-nickel products, Antam said.
Nickel ore output fell to 8.62mn wet metric tonnes (wmt) in 2022, down by 22pc from 11mn wmt in 2021. Sales fell by 9pc to 6.95mn wmt from 7.64mn wmt. October-December output totalled 2.4mn wmt, down by 11pc from 2.7mn wmt a year earlier.
Antam utilises some of its nickel ore as feedstock for ferro-nickel production, and sells the remainder to other domestic downstream converters. Indonesia has imposed a ban on the export of raw nickel ore and will ban the export of bauxite ore from June this year.
The firm produced 1.65mn wmt of bauxite in 2022, down by 1.2pc from 1.67mn wmt in 2021 with sales falling by 13pc to 1.24mn wmt from 1.42mn wmt. Alumina output increased by 59pc to 151,565t in 2022 from 95,209t a year earlier, with sales rising by 8.3pc to 143,991t from 133,001.