Port Hedland ore shipments fall

Port Hedland has released its iron ore shipments data for February and the numbers are pretty good with 27.8 million tonnes of iron ore headed out to sea, 21.3 million tonnes of which is off to China.

Here’s the chart:

There is usually a dip in February owing to Chinese New Year and inclement weather. This year it came a bit earlier and then carried through. However, overal shipments have been held up by strong demand in Japan and North Korea.

Thus the Chinese market share has broken down a little:

A little indication of the malaise in Chinese steel but on the whole a better month than some may have feared for iron ore shipments. Port Hedland is the major port for both BHP and FMG.

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About the author

David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.