Rio Tinto hit its iron ore shipment increase target for calendar 2018 and expects to see volumes increase slightly again in 2019, according to its latest quarterly operations report. It saw realised prices slide last year but at current prices it remains highly profitable, Kallanish notes.

In 2018 it shipped 338.2 million tonnes of iron ore from its Pilbara operations on a 100% basis, up 2% year-on-year. Production was also up 2% to 337.8mt. That included a 2.99% increase in sales of Pilbara Blend fines to 160.555mt. Rio now expects to ship some 338-350mt of iron ore in 2019, implying up to an increase of 3.49%.

Shipments from Iron Ore Company of Canada meanwhile sank -20.8% to 15.049mt. Shipments of concentrates were down -23.1% to 6.619mt, while shipments of pellets were down 18.96% to 8.43mt. The division was hit by a two-month strike in Q2 2018. It expects shipments to recover to 11.3-12.3mt in 2019.

Realised iron ore prices were down around -4% last year to $57.6/wet metric ton fob, or $62.5/dry metric ton fob, Rio Tinto says. That compares to the Kallanish KORE 62% Fe index, which dropped -2.58% to average $69.01/dmt cfr Qingdao in 2018.

The company has also earned $8.6 billion in disposals over 2018. That included the sale of the Grasberg copper mine, the Dunkerque aluminium smelter and its Queensland coal operations.