Australian, Brazilian iron ore shipments hit 2.5 years high

The total volume of iron ore dispatched to global destinations from the 19 ports and 16 mining companies in Australia and Brazil reversed from the prior week's dip and jumped 2.6 million tonnes or 10% on week to 28.6 million tonnes over June 12-18, hitting a new high since late December 2020, Mysteel's latest survey found.

The increase was largely contributed by the growing shipments of ore from Australia, where all the 10 ports were operating normally last week and iron ore miners were cranking up their shipments to achieve a better performance at the end of the April-June quarter, Mysteel Global noted.

After falling in the prior week, Australian ore shipped worldwide increased by a large 2.7 million tonnes or 14.9% on week to reach 21.2 million tonnes during the survey period, a new high since March 2021. Among the total, the volume sent to the country's top consumer China surged by 3.1 million tonnes or 20.6% on week to 18 million tonnes.

Of Australia's top three miners, both Rio Tinto and BHP ramped up their iron ore shipments to China, with the former's volume swelling 1.8 million tonnes or 43.6% on week to 6.1 million tonnes, while the latter's tonnage growing 1.1 million tonnes or 22.6% on week to 5.7 million tonnes.

In contrast, the iron ore shipments from Fortescue Metals Group to China dropped 263,000 tonnes or 7% on week to 3.5 million tonnes.

During the same period, Brazilian iron ore shipped from its nine ports to global destinations dipped 138,000 tonnes or 1.8% on week to 7.4 million tonnes, although the volume from Vale inched up 39,000 tonnes or 0.7% on week to 5.4 million tonnes.

Australian iron ore shipments to China over June 12-18

Written by Anthea Shi, shihui@mysteel.com

Edited by Alyssa Ren, rentingting@mysteel.com

This article has been published under an article exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and SteelMint.