Iron ore shipments from Western Australia's (WA) four largest producers edged higher in the week to 27 April on the back of higher volumes exported by Rio Tinto and BHP.
The four largest Pilbara iron ore producers — BHP, Fortescue, Rio Tinto and Roy Hill — loaded vessels with a combined capacity of 18.01mn dwt, up from 17.92mn dwt in the week to 20 April. The dwt capacity is the maximum capacity of a vessel and overestimates actual shipments by about 5pc.
Rio Tinto's shipments reached 6.14mn dwt, from 5.81mn dwt the previous week, as the company is still recovering from the fallout of tropical Cyclone Olga. This was still less than the 2024 average so far of 6.44mn dwt.
BHP's volumes ticked up to 6.19mn dwt, from 6.13mn dwt the previous week.
Fortescue's iron ore loadings dropped in the week to 27 April to 4.25mn dwt, from the previous week's 4.51mn dwt, but still well above the rolling average of 3.70mn dwt.
Roy Hill's exports ticked down too, but remain above the rolling average of 1.27mn dwt. The company loaded vessels with 1.42mn dwt, down from 1.45mn dwt.
Overall, iron ore shipments from WA increased on the year to 69.54mn dwt on 1-28 April, compared with 65.59mn dwt in the same period year ago, according to provisional shipping data. Shipments to China rose to 57.63mn dwt, from 53.69mn dwt, across the same timeframe.
