Iron ore shipments from Australia, Brazil down 2% w-o-w

The total volume of iron ore dispatched to global destinations from the 19 ports and 16 mining companies in both Australia and Brazil reversed down to 22.9 million tonnes over March 15-21, falling 476,000 tonnes or 2% on week after one week of rise, mainly due to lower volume from Australia having offset the increase from Brazil, according to Mysteel's latest survey.

Over the survey period, Australian iron ore shipments from its ten ports bound for global destinations decreased to 16.6 million tonnes, or down after one week of gain by 1.3 million tonnes or 7% on week, while Brazil shipped about 6.3 million tonnes of iron ore from its nine ports worldwide, up by 776,000 tonnes or 14% on week after a one-week dip.

Iron ore shipments from both Australia and Brazil in the first quarter of every year tend to be volatile, mainly because of the wet season, and so far, the fluctuation in shipments have been within market expectation, Mysteel Global notes.

Over March 15-21, iron ore shipments from Mysteel's smaller-scale survey of 14 ports and 12 mining companies in Australia and Brazil totalled 20 million tonnes to all worldwide destinations, which reversed down by 1 million tonnes or 5% on week after one week of increase.

Among the total volume for the smaller-scale survey, the tonnage from Australia to China, however, swelled for the second week by another 20,000 tonnes on week to 12.2 million tonnes, though the country's top three iron ore miners' performance varied, the survey showed.

Among the three core miners in Australia, BHP posted the on-week decline of 605,000 tonnes or 12.4% after two weeks of growths, while Fortescue Metals Group's tonnage to China increased for the second week by 81,000 tonnes or 3.2% on week, and that from Rio Tinto also grew for the second week by 69,000 tonnes or 1.6% on week.

As for Brazil, Vale's iron ore shipment to global destinations declined for the third week by 44,000 tonnes or 1% on week to 4.2 million tonnes.

Over March 22-28, Brazil will conduct the scheduled maintenance on Port da Madeira and Port GIT, both for 168 hours.

Written by Lea Li, liye@mysteel.com

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