Shipments from the four largest iron ore producers in Western Australia's (WA) Pilbara were 10pc above average in the week to 17 December, as Rio Tinto increased deliveries towards the end of the year and Fortescue's loadings rebounded firmly.
Rio Tinto, BHP, Fortescue and Roy Hill loaded vessels with a combined 19.06mn deadweight tonnes (dwt) of capacity, up from 18.33mn dwt in the week to 10 December, according to initial shipping data collated by Argus. The dwt tonnage is the maximum capacity of the vessel and overestimates actual shipments by around 5pc.
The latest week was dry across much of the Pilbara as the wet season, which usually runs from November to April, continues to be delayed in northern WA. There was up to 10mm of rain across parts of the region on 19 December but the Bureau of Meteorology forecasts another largely dry week ahead.
Rio Tinto's exports increased to 8.17mn dwt in the week to 17 December from 7.65mn dwt the previous week and were 26pc above the rolling average for the past year of 6.48mn dwt/week. It will need to maintain firm shipments over the remainder of December if it is to meet the bottom of its 320mn-335mn t target for 2022.
Fortescue's shipments increased to 3.93mn dwt from an unusually weak 2.93mn dwt in the week to 10 December and were 5pc above its rolling weekly average for the past year of 3.75mn dwt. Roy Hill's deliveries eased to 1.34mn dwt from an 18-month high of 1.66mn dwt in the week to 10 December and were 7pc above average loadings of 1.25mn dwt/week. BHP's shipments fell to 5.62mn dwt from 6.08mn dwt the previous week and were 3pc below average.
China was listed as the destination for 87pc of shipments in the latest week, which rises to 88pc with unconfirmed destinations included. These were up from 82pc and 83pc respectively in the previous week and from an average of around 82pc, on the prospect of the Chinese economy rebounding from Covid-19 lockdowns.
The Argus ICX iron ore was last assessed at $109.55/dry metric tonne (dmt) cfr Qingdao on a 62pc Fe basis on 19 December, up from $86.80/dmt on 7 November but down from $160.20/dmt on 7 March. Argus assessed 58pc Fe at $94.35/dmt cfr Qingdao on 19 December, up from $75.40/dmt on 7 November but down from $137.45/t on 7 March.
