Depressed nickel prices slashed Indonesian nickel producer PT Inco's earnings to 9.3m dollars for the year ended December 2001, compared to 80.5m dollars a year earlier. The company also posted a loss of 8m dollars in the fourth quarter of 2001 compared with a 16.9m dollars gain in die same period of 2001. Adversely affected by weak nickel prices, the company's realised price for nickel-in-matte in the fourth quarter of 2001 averaged 3,928 dollars per ton, down 36 percent from the comparable quarter in 2000.
NSTL
