Vale's first-quarter net profit increased 17.7 percent year-on-year

The financial quarterly report issued by the world’s mining giant, Brazil’s Vale, showed that in the first quarter of this year, the company’s net profit reached 1.604 billion U.S. dollars, a year-on-year increase of 17.7%.

The financial report shows that Vale's operating income for the first quarter of this year was $6.848 billion, and its pre-tax operating profit was $2.062 billion, which was a year-on-year increase of 26.3% and 22.4%, respectively. In addition, in the first quarter of this year, Vale exported 57.77 million tons of iron ore, a decrease of 6.5% from the previous period, and exported 7.76 million tons of ball ore, an increase of 19.5% from the previous period. The decline in iron ore exports was due to the decline in seasonal production, and the rainy season affected port transportation and port equipment maintenance.

The financial report said that the company achieved good results in the first quarter because of the drastic reduction in costs and increased global iron ore demand. After the implementation of the new quarterly pricing mechanism, the results will appear in the second quarter of this year's financial report.