[Ferro-Alloys.com] Prior to Vale’s sale of its European manganese smelters to Glencore, the third quarter of 2012 was not kind to its manganese operations.

 

Revenues of manganese ore dropped to USD57-million from USD63-million in the second quarter, due to the decrease in volumes. Vale sold 446,000 mt in the third quarter, down 12.5% from 510,000 mt in the second quarter. The negative impact in revenues from sales was partially offset by an increase of the average realized price to USD127.80 mt in the third quarter from USD123.53 in the second quarter.

 

Vale sold only 31,000 mt of manganese alloys in the third quarter, down from 99,000 mt in the second quarter, and the average sales price however rose to USD1,774.19 per mt vs. USD1,303.03. The ferroalloys generated revenues of USD55- million against USD129-million in the second quarter.

 

The significant decrease in sales volume and revenues of ferroalloys was attributed to the agreement to sell its manganese ferroalloys smelters in Europe. Although the sale is still subject to the fulfillment of certain precedent conditions, Vale is no longer consolidating financial or production results from those operations.