Rio Tinto, the world’s second-largest iron ore producer, has recently announced its Q3 2016 production results. Iron ore production is up by 2.8% Q-o-Q in 2016.
The company has managed to produce around 83.2 MnT iron ore and shipped 80.9 MnT iron ore in Q3 2016 (Jul-Sept’16).
However, on Y-o-Y basis, the company has gained production growth by 2% as compared to Q3 2015. On contrary, the company has registered a downfall of around 5% in iron ore shipments Y-o-Y.
In the first nine months of 2016, the company has produced 243.9 MnT iron ore, up by 7% and shipped 239.9 MnT iron ore, up by 3% Y-o-Y.
Strong global prices and higher demand from China has given positive sentiments to the miner. China’s increasing imports due to healthy profit earned by steel mills pushed mills to ramp up output.
The company has revised its iron ore production guidance by 5 MnT. Previously, the company planned to produce around 330 MnT iron ore, now the company is aiming to produce between 325 and 330 MnT for 2016 due to port and rail maintainance during this quarter. And, kept 2017 iron ore production guidance unchanged at 330 MnT to 340 MnT.
In addition, the miner expects the Silvergrass mine in the Pilbara to deliver an additional 10 MnT per year of high-grade, low-phosphorus ore by the end of Q4 2017, while the second phase of its expansion project at the Nammuldi mine in the same region is on schedule to deliver an extra 5 MnT per year from the Q4 2016.
In Q2 2016 (Apr-Jun’16), the company produced around 80.9 MnT iron ore and shipped 82.2 MnT in the same time frame. Production is down by around 3.6% Q-o-Q in 2016.
In Q1 2016 (i.e. Jan-Mar’16) , the company managed to produce around 84 MnT iron ore and shipped 80.8 MnT in the same time frame mentioned above. Iron ore production was up by 13% as compared to Q1 2015, on similar lines, iron ore shipments were also up by 11% as compared to Q1 2015.
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