Brazil’s Vale increased its iron production by 13% in the first half of 2021

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazil’s Vale, one of the world’s largest iron ore producers and exporters, produced 143.7 million tons of the mineral in the first half of the year, a volume 13% higher than in the same period of 2020 (127.2 million tons), the Rio de Janeiro-based company reported on Monday.

The company explained in a statement that the normalization of all its activities after the stoppages caused last year by the covid pandemic, high external demand, good weather conditions, and the use of almost all its installed capacity in some mines will allow it to achieve production this year higher than in 2019 and 2020.

The company maintained its forecast that it will end 2021 with the production of between 315 and 335 million tons of iron.

Vale produced 2018 a record 384.6 million tons of iron, but its production fell to 301.9 million tons in 2019 because of the damage caused by the environmental disaster at its Brumadinho mine and to 300.4 million tons in 2020 because of the stoppage of activities in some mines due to the pandemic.

“Vale reached in the first half a production capacity of 330 million tons per year, which, if maintained, will allow an average production of one million tons of iron per day in the second half of the year,” the company said in its statement.

The company produced 75.7 million tons of iron in the second quarter of this year, up 11.3% compared to the first three months of the year (68 million tons) and 12.0% compared to the same period of 2020 (67.6 million tons).

As for iron sales, in the first half of the year, they stood at 126.5 million tons, which is equivalent to a growth of 19.1 % compared to the first six months of last year (106.3 million tons).

Iron sales in the second quarter were 67.2 million tons, up 13.4% versus the first quarter of 2021 (59.3 million tons) and 23.1 % compared to the same period of 2020 (54.6 million tons).

According to the company’s operating balance sheet, Vale’s nickel production in the first half of the year was 89.9 million tons, down 12.0% compared to the first six months of 2020 (102.2 million tons).

This reduction was attributed to the stoppage of activities carried out by mine employees in Sudbury (Canada) and to an unscheduled maintenance stoppage at the Clydach plant (United Kingdom).

Copper production in the first half of the year was 150.1 million tons, down 16.1% compared to the same period in 2020 (179 million tons), also due to the stoppage in Sudbury and delays in the operations in Voisey’s Bay (Canada).

The company reported that it is revising its forecasts for nickel and copper production this year due to “uncertainties related to the work situation in Ontario and the acceleration of the implementation of the safety and maintenance process at (the Brazilian mines of) Sossego and Salobo”.