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Rio Tinto faces Australian iron ore shipment delays

  • : Metals
  • 25/01/24

UK-Australian miner Rio Tinto is facing shipping disruptions in Western Australia (WA) after Cyclone Sean damaged a railcar dumper as it swept down the state's coast, the firm announced today.

A dumper at Rio's East Intercourse Island (EII) port facility — a part of the Pilbara Port Authority's (PPA) Port Dampier — was flooded on 20 January, sustaining some damage, when 274mm of rain poured down on WA over a single day. EEI handled 45mn t of Rio Tinto's iron ore shipments in 2024.

"Initial indications suggest the dumper at EII could be offline for three to four weeks, as rectifications works are required to repair flood damage," the company said on 24 January.

Rio Tinto said its overall 2025 production guidance of between 323mn-338mn t of iron ore remains unchanged, but the disruption may affect first-quarter shipments.

WA's coastal areas received the bulk of Cyclone Sean's rainfall earlier this week, limiting disruptions to the state's lucrative iron ore mines. Rio Tinto operates seven railcar dumpers across WA, six of which remain operational. The company will continue to move iron ore out of the state over the next month, using its other dumpers.

Cyclone Sean forced the PPA to shutter its facilities at Port Hedland, Dampier, Ashburton, Varanus Island, and Cape Preston West on 18 January. All five of the sites resumed operations on 20 January, after the Bureau of Meteorology advised that Cyclone Sean was moving away from WA's Pilbara region.


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Open interest hits record high on CME EU HRC contract


25/01/30
25/01/30

Open interest hits record high on CME EU HRC contract

London, 30 January (Argus) — Open interest reached a record on the CME Group's north European hot-rolled coil contract yesterday. The equivalent of just over 250,000t, 12,503 lots, was outstanding yesterday, according to exchange data. The forward curve has been quite flat of late, after a sustained period in contango, but is starting to firm on the expectation of reduced import penetration. The European Commission is currently conducting a review of its safeguard measures and Eurofer has requested a 50pc cut to flat steel quotas , as well as a melt-and-pour clause on Chinese product. Two February-March strips traded in the brokered market at €615-635/t today, while a 2,000t April trade concluded at €640/t, up €7/t from the last trade yesterday. February traded at €615/t on screen today, March at €635/t, April at 640/t and June at €650/t on screen. Traded volume on the CME contract has increased by over 76pc this month compared with December, with over 125,000t trading as of today, also up from 105,380t in January 2024. The latest US CFTC Commitment of Traders report showed short positions from producers, merchants, processors and users increasing by 519 lots in the week to 21 January, while the long positions of managed money — funds on the other side of the trade — rose by 560 lots. Short positions are bets the settlement price, determined by the monthly average of Argus ' daily north EU HRC index, will fall, while long positions are taken in expectation of increases. A lot of the short interest is driven by traders and others hedging their inventories, while a good chunk of volume is also driven by participants in the wind turbine supply chain hedging plate exposure. By Colin Richardson Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Australia’s MinRes on iron ore plan post-storm


25/01/30
25/01/30

Australia’s MinRes on iron ore plan post-storm

Sydney, 30 January (Argus) — Australian metal producer Mineral Resources (MinRes) increased its iron ore shipments in October-December and is maintaining its guidance for the 2025 financial year to June 30, despite Cyclone Sean disrupting operations in December. MinRes shipped 5.2mn wet metric tonnes (wmt) of iron out of its three Western Australian (WA) iron mines in October-December, up 8pc from a year ago, making it on course to meet its 2025 target of 21.5mn-24.7mn wmt . The company has moved just 9.7mn wmt since the start of the financial year, but plans to meet its target by rapidly ramping up production at its 35mn t/yr Onslow iron mine over the next few months. MinRes expects Onslow to hit a production rate of 19.2mn wmt/yr in January, up from a rate of 17.6mn wmt in the October-December quarter. The mine will also receive a new transhipper in February, improving MinRes' ability to move iron ore from the site to major export hubs. Costs at two of MinRes' iron ore mine complexes — Onslow and the 8mn t/yr Yilgarn Hub — were above guidance in October-December. Yilgarn Hub's operating cost over June-December hovered $18/wmt over MinRes' upper guidance of $110/wmt, while Onslow's cost stood $9/wmt over the company's upper guidance of $68/wmt over the same period. MinRes expects these to fall over coming months, with Yilgarn Hub moving into care and maintenance , and commissioning works being completed at Onslow. But recent weather issues could get in the way. Cyclone Sean 11U started swerving around off the coast of WA on 18 January , flooding ports and coastal roads over the following two days. The cyclone disrupted operations around Onslow for eight days, which is longer than the four days the company generally plans for, raising the prospect of unexpected costs and delays. MinRes also needs to fix parts of its private, 150km Onslow haulage road. Water spilled out of floodways and crossed the sealed road as Cyclone Sean passed by the region, damaging the route that links Onslow mine to the Port of Ashburton. Cyclone Sean disrupted other WA shipping operations in January. The cyclone flooded one of Rio Tinto's railcar dumpers at Port Dampier on 20 January, taking it off line for three to four weeks. Early shipping records indicate Rio Tinto's iron ore shipments out of WA plummeted to 3.05mn dwt over the week to 25 January, less than half its 12-month weekly average. The Argus iron ore fines 58pc Fe cfr Qingdao price was relatively stable in the October-December quarter, moving between $98/t and $87/t over those three months. By Avinash Govind Mineral Resources iron production mn t Oct-Dec '24 Jul-Sep '24 Oct-Dec '23 Jul-Dec '24 Jul-Dec '23 Yilgarn Hub 1.1 1.3 2.1 2.3 3.8 Onslow 4.4 1.9 0.0 4.6 0.0 Pilbara Hub 2.4 2.4 2.7 4.9 5.0 Total (100% basis) 7.9 5.6 4.8 11.8 8.8 Total (MinRes Share) 5.2 4.5 4.8 9.7 8.7 Mineral Resources (MinRes) Argus Iron Prices $/t Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

US Fed pauses, awaits Trump policy fallout: Update


25/01/29
25/01/29

US Fed pauses, awaits Trump policy fallout: Update

Adds Powell comments. Houston, 29 January (Argus) — The US Federal Reserve today paused in its course of rate cuts begun last year while signaling it would wait to see the impacts of President Donald Trump's new policies — ranging from tariffs to expulsions of foreign farm workers — on the labor market and inflation before considering any changes to its "policy stance." In its first meeting of 2025, the Fed's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) held its federal funds rate unchanged at 4.25-4.50pc after cutting it by a quarter point each in December and November last year following a half-point cut in mid-September, the first cut since 2020. "In the current situation, there is probably some elevated uncertainty because of, you know, significant policy shifts in those four areas that I mentioned: tariffs, immigration, fiscal policy and regulatory policy," Fed chairman Jerome Powell told reporters. "The committee is very much in the mode of waiting to see what policies are enacted," Powell said. "We need to let those policies be articulated before we can even begin to make a plausible assessment of what their implications for the economy will be." "The economy is strong, the labor market is solid and the downside risks to the labor market we think has abated and continues on a sometimes slow and bumpy path," Powell said. "The broad sense of the Committee is we don't need to be in a hurry to adjust the policy stance." In December, the Fed penciled in 50 basis points worth of cuts for 2025, down from 100 basis points projected in the September median economic projections of Fed board members and Fed bank presidents. Fed fund futures have also indicated a likelihood of only 50 basis points of rate cuts this year on strong job growth and an uptick in inflation at the end of last year, along with concerns over Trump's plans to hike tariffs, expel illegal immigrants — many of whom work in agriculture, construction and services industries — and cut taxes. Those are all measures economists say are likely to unleash inflation and boost interest rates. Powell said Fed policymakers had heard that "businesses that are dependent on immigrant labor are saying that it is suddenly getting harder to get people," but that it had not showed up yet in aggregate labor data. Trump during his first term was openly critical of the Fed, which is independent of the executive branch, saying he wants a "say" in making monetary policy. "With oil prices going down, I'll demand that interest rates drop immediately, and likewise they should be dropping all over the world," Trump told the World Economic Forum last week in Davos, Switzerland. Asked if the Fed would continue to act independently of the executive branch, Powell replied: "This is who we are, this is what we do. We study the data, we analyze how it will affect the outlook, and the balance of risks, and we use our tools." The consumer price index (CPI) accelerated to an annual 2.9pc in December, a third month of gains from 2.4pc in September, which was the lowest since early 2021 before the economic reopening after Covid-19 lockdowns caused a supply-chain shock that sent CPI as high as 9.1pc in June 2022. The Fed, slow to react, began a series of rate hikes in March 2022 that took the target rate from near zero to more than five percentage points higher by July 2023, keeping it at 5.25-5.5pc through August 2024. By Bob Willis Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

US Fed holds rate flat, signals vigilance on inflation


25/01/29
25/01/29

US Fed holds rate flat, signals vigilance on inflation

Houston, 29 January (Argus) — The US Federal Reserve held its target interest rate unchanged today, pausing its cycle of rate cuts begun last year while signaling it would be on guard against any outbreak of renewed inflationary pressures as policies enacted by President Donald Trump — ranging from tariffs to expulsions of foreign farm workers — are widely expected to spur inflation. In its first meeting of 2025, the Fed's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) held its federal funds rate unchanged at 4.25-4.50pc after cutting it by a quarter point each in December and November last year following a half-point cut in mid-September, the first cut since 2020. "The unemployment rate has stabilized at a low level in recent months, and labor market conditions remain solid," The FOMC said in its statement. "Inflation remains somewhat elevated." "In assessing the appropriate stance of monetary policy, the Committee will continue to monitor the implications of incoming information for the economic outlook," it said, repeating stock language from prior statements. "The Committee would be prepared to adjust the stance of monetary policy as appropriate if risks emerge" that could impede attainment of achieving the goal of 2pc annual inflation and low unemployment. In December, the Fed penciled in 50 basis points worth of cuts for 2025, down from 100 basis points projected in the September median economic projections of Fed board members and Fed bank presidents. But Fed fund futures have since indicated the likelihood of only 50 basis points of rate cuts this year on strong job growth and an uptick in inflation at the end of last year, along with Trump's plans to hike tariffs, expel illegal immigrants — many of whom work in agriculture, construction and services industries — and cut taxes. Those are all measures economists say are likely to unleash inflation and boost interest rates. Trump during his first term was openly critical of the Fed chief Jerome Powell and has made remarks signaling he wants a "say" in making monetary policy. "With oil prices going down, I'll demand that interest rates drop immediately, and likewise they should be dropping all over the world," Trump told the World Economic Forum last week in Davos, Switzerland. The consumer price index (CPI) accelerated to an annual 2.9pc in December, a third month of gains from 2.4pc in September, which was the lowest since early 2021 before the economic reopening after Covid-19 lockdowns caused a supply-chain shock that sent CPI as high as 9.1pc in June 2022. The Fed, slow to react, began a series of rate hikes in March 2022 that took the target rate from near zero to more than five percentage points higher by July 2023, keeping it at 5.25-5.5pc through August 2024. By Bob Willis Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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