Antam 2004 sales up 35 percent

Antam 2004 sales up 35 percent

JAKARTA: PT Aneka Tambang, a gold and nickel mining company 65 percent owned by the Indonesian government, said sales rose 35 percent last year, mainly on higher prices.

Sales in the year ended Dec. 31 rose to Rp 2.76 trillion (US$302 million) from Rp 2.04 trillion a year earlier, the company said in a statement today to the Australian Stock Exchange, where the shares are also traded. Sales of ferronickel rose 25 percent to Rp 870.4 billion, the statement said.

In the fourth quarter, overall sales rose 33 percent to Rp 820.75 billion from a year earlier, the company said.

Sales of ferronickel in the three months ended Dec. 31 rose 2 percent to Rp 215.85 billion from Rp 211.62 billion a year earlier. Gold sales in the period jumped 15 percent to Rp 152.2 billion from Rp 132.3 billion.

Aneka said it sold its ferronickel at $6.18 a pound in the January to December period, 48 percent higher than the $4.19 a pound it achieved in 2003.-- AP