Australian exports of iron ore to China from Port Hedland, which handles a quarter of the world’s seaborne shipments of the steelmaking material, rebounded last month to hit a record high in a sign of still robust demand, figures released on Thursday showed.
Shipments to China rose 4.8 per cent from June to 30.57 million tonnes, the Port Hedland Port Authority said. That was up no less than 50 per cent on July last year.
Rising output and shipments to China, the main destination for sea-traded iron ore, comes amid a market correction in which the price of the ingredient has dropped by nearly a third so far this year.
Benchmark iron ore for immediate delivery to China stands at US$95.90 a tonne, according to The Steel Index.
World No 3 producer BHP Billiton, with the ability to mine more than 220 million tonnes of iron ore a year, is Port Hedland’s main user. Future expansion work could enlarge BHP’s iron ore capacity to 270 million tonnes.
Fortescue Metals uses the port to ship up to 155 million tonnes annually.
Overall shipments of iron ore from the Western Australian port climbed to a record 36.08 million tonnes from 33.6 million tonnes in June, with sales to Japan up by almost a million tonnes.
The impressive numbers come as tug boat engineers at Port Hedland intend to stop work for four hours on Saturday, Monday and Wednesday over a pay dispute.
Meanwhile, Rio Tinto, the world’s second-largest producer of iron ore, reported a 21 per cent rise in first-half profit on Thursday, beating market forecasts as it slashed capital spending and cut costs faster than expected while ramping up iron ore output.
Source: Souuth China Morning post
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