The world’s largest iron ore exporter’s Q1 export volume fell 15% month-on-month

Total exports from its iron ore operations in the Pilbara region of Western Australia totaled 71.5 million tonnes in the three months to March 31, down 15% from the previous quarter, according to data released by the company. It was down 8% a year earlier.

Analysts had expected Rio Tinto’s iron ore exports to fall sharply, but the company’s results were still worse than most had expected. UBS had expected Rio’s exports to be 72 million tonnes in the first quarter, while Royal Bank of Canada had expected 73.1 million tonnes. The median forecast of five analysts interviewed by Bloomberg was 73.1 million tonnes.

As Australia’s largest iron ore exporter, Rio Tinto’s iron ore sector is vital to Australia’s national economy.

In the Q1 export performance of Rio Tinto over the years from 2015 to the present, this year’s Q1 export volume ranks second from the bottom, and its iron ore mining volume also hit the lowest level since 2015.

Rio Tinto chief executive Jakob Stausholm said as the company began to expand its Gudai-Darri project in Western Australia, “our iron ore business will have more capacity and will be in better conditions to produce more in the second half of the year. Pilbara Blend.”

Since the beginning of this year, iron ore prices have continued to rise. At the start of the year, the ‘benchmark’ price of 62% Australian iron ore was $119 a tonne, and the price of iron ore has been rising over the ensuing three months and has been mostly at $135 a tonne so far. more than US dollars.

On April 19, iron ore was at $149.85 a tonne, according to Platts data.