From plus to minus for Norilsk Nickel
Mining and metallurgy giant Norilsk Nickel in 2008 posted a 555 million USD loss. That is the worst result in 11 years.
A press release from the company – the world’s biggest producer of nickel - shows losses of 555 million USD in 2008. That is the first full-year loss in at least 11 years, the Moscow Times reports.
In 2007, the company had a 5.33 billion USD net profit.
Metal sales were down 26 percent. In addition to nickel, the company is also a major producer of cupper, palladium, platinum and gold. The sales decline was biggest for nickel which dropped 40 percent year on year.
Norilsk redirected some of its sales from Europe to Asia, sending only 51 percent of the production to Europe in 2008, down from 63 percent in the year earlier, the Moscow Times writes.
Norilsk Nickel is a world-wide company with core assets in Norilsk, as well as on the Kola Peninsula
