Rio Tinto Decides to Reduce Iron Ore Production by 10 MnT

Unseasoned cyclones at Western Australia hit Pilbara operations by 7 MnT.

Rio Tinto, world’s second largest iron ore miner and exporter has decided to cut its production by 10 MnT for the second half of 2015. In the beginning of 2015, the company forecasted production of 350 MnT iron ore, but now expects to ship total 340 MnT iron ore.

The company decided to scale down the production target for rest of the year 2015 owing to unseasoned weather, including two cyclones in Western Australia which hampered the operations at Pilbara by 7 MnT.

Although, the company produced 79.7 MnT iron ore during April-June’15, a 8% rise from previous 3 months. In addition, the company shipped 81.4 MnT iron ore in the same period starting April-June’15.

Rio-Tinto has been expanding its mines in Australia’s iron rich Pilbara region despite sharp fall of prices over past few months. It also produces iron ore in Canada.

Iron ore prices hit a 10-year low at USD 44.10/MT last week amid poor demand and lesser steel production in China.

Australia is one of the world’s biggest suppliers of iron ore, which is key to making steel, and China is its largest customer.

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Source: SteelMint Research