Non-operating income pushes up PT Timah's profit

JAKARTA (JP): Publicly listed PT Tambang Timah, one of the world's major tin producers, reported a net profit of Rp 296 billion (about US$34.8 million at the current rate) for the nine months ending September 30.

The company said that the profit represented a 5.45 percent increase from Rp 280.7 billion for the same period in 1999.

The increase in the net profit was largely attributed to an increase in non-operating income such as from foreign exchange gain and revenue from the sale of fixed assets.

The company's operating profit dropped by 23 percent to Rp 342.6 billion from Rp 444.7 billion in the January-September period, last year.

The sales volume dropped 14.5 percent to 26,606 metric tons from 31,130 tons due to a 14.4 percent decline in the company's refined tin production which was down to 25,522 tons from 28,799 tons, PT Tambang Timah said in a statement.

The company's production of tin-concentrates showed an increase of 3.5 percent to 28,637 tons in the first nine months of this year, from 27,664 tons for the same period last year.

Average tin prices in the international market during the nine month period was 3 percent higher compared to the same period last year. Hence, the average tin price received by the company was 4 percent higher from $5,343 per ton to $5,562 per ton. The average exchange rate of the rupiah against the U.S. dollar during the nine month period was recorded at Rp 8,144, or 4.6 percent higher as compared to Rp 7,789 for the same period last year.

Conflicts of land-use with the local residents around the company's inland mining operation on Bangka island, South Sumatra, during the first and the second quarter of this year caused a 31 percent decline in the volume earth removed from the mining site.

"However, as we increase the tin-in-concentrates compensation paid to the contractors into the range of 20 percent to 35 percent, by the second quarter of 2000, the tin-in-concentrates production (from the inland mining site) could be increased by 0.5 percent from 15,421 tons during the nine month period of 1999 to 15,492 tons," the company said.

The tin-in-concentrates production at offshore mine sites increased by 7.4 percent to 13,144 tons from 12,243 tons despite bad weather conditions at the beginning of the year, the company said.

The company added that the cash cost per ton of the tin metal production was 9.8 percent higher to $3,246 per ton for the January-September period, this year from $2,958 per ton in the same period last year, partly due to the increase in compensation paid to contractors. (hen)