Rio’s first quarter production report was out earlier today and was a fizzer:
Rio Tinto chief executive Sam Walsh said “Rio Tinto has started the year with a series of performance records as we continue to drive productivity gains across our operations. Our Pilbara iron ore business has again set new benchmarks for production, shipments and rail volumes for the first quarter and we are well on track to reach nameplate capacity of 290Mt/a by the end of the first half of 2014. Our mined copper production benefited from higher ore grades at Kennecott Utah Copper and production ramp up at Oyu Tolgoi and we also had a record first quarter for bauxite, primarily driven by higher production at Weipa.”
Highlights Q1 2014 vs Q1 2013 vs Q4 2013
- Global iron ore shipments mt (100% basis) 66.7 +16% -8%
- Global iron ore production mt (100% basis) 66.4 +8% -6%
- Mined copper kt (RT share) 156.5 +17% -6%
- Bauxite mt (RT share) 10.0 +5% -12%
- Aluminium kt (RT share) 832 0% -2%
- Hard coking coal mt (RT share) 1.9 +14% -22%
- Semi-soft and thermal coal mt (RT share) 6.8 +12% +4%
- Titanium dioxide feedstock kt (RT share) 389 -9% +8%
Record first quarter iron ore production, shipments and rail volumes. Shipments from the Pilbara exceeded production in the quarter, despite the impact of tropical cyclone Christine which closed our ports for three days at the end of 2013 and affected the progressive recovery of rail and ports into January. The full ramp up is well on track to achieve nameplate capacity of 290 Mt/a by the end of the first half of 2014.
This is a poor result. January-March output of 66.4 million tonnes is below most forecasts and 6%, or four million tonnes, down on the last three months of 2013.
Given the massive ramp up at Port Hedland and the unusually good weather for the period this will trigger a few pointed analyst questions.
It also suggests that the supply ramp up has further to run that thought, and that underlying demand is a little less strong.
