Iron ore shipments from Western Australia's (WA) four largest producers fell in the week to 6 April, on the back of lower volumes exported by Rio Tinto and Fortescue, but remain above the average so far in 2024.
Exports next week are likely to be lower because of disruptions caused by tropical cyclone Olga.
The four Pilbara iron ore producers — BHP, Fortescue, Rio Tinto and Roy Hill — loaded vessels with a combined capacity of 18.53mn deadweight tonnes (dwt), down from 18.94mn dwt in the week to 30 March — the dwt capacity is the maximum capacity of a vessel and overestimates actual shipments by about 5pc.
Rio Tinto's exports fell to 6.32mn dwt from 8.32mn dwt in the previous week and slightly below the average so far in 2024 of 6.47mn dwt. The volumes dropped as the company loaded additional volumes during the week to 30 March, which it did not repeat in the week to 6 April.
Rio Tinto facilities at Port Walcott did not ship anything since 6 April as port suspended operations over the weekend because of Cyclone Olga.
Fortescue's iron ore loadings decreased in the week to 6 April to 3.86mn dwt from the previous week at 4.03mn dwt.
BHP's and Roy Hill's exports increased. BHP loaded 6.75mn dwt during the week, up from 5.25mn dwt in the week to 30 March, and Roy Hill loaded vessels with 1.57mn dwt, up from 1.33mn dwt in the week to 30 March.
Overall iron ore shipments from WA fell to 16mn dwt in 1-6 April, down from 16.02mn dwt in the same period of 2023, according to provisional shipping data. Shipments to China dropped to 12.25mn dwt from 12.82mn dwt across the same time frames.
