BHP iron ore production beats

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BHP has shown up Rio’s thin weather excuse yesterday with boom quarter of iron ore production on good weather and annual output upgrade:

  • BHP Billiton maintained strong momentum in the nine months ended March 2014 with record production achieved for four commodities and at 10 operations.
  • Strong operating performance throughout the period, the relatively limited impact of the wet season and the continued ramp-up of Jimblebar underpinned record production at Western Australia Iron Ore of 163 million tonnes (100% basis). Full-year production guidance has been raised by a further five million tonnes to 217 million tonnes (100% basis).
  • Queensland Coal achieved record annualised production of 69 million tonnes (100% basis) in the March 2014 quarter. A sustainable improvement in productivity and the successful ramp-up of Daunia has underpinned an increase in total metallurgical coal production guidance to 43.5 million tonnes for the 2014 financial year.
  • Petroleum liquids production increased by 16% to 77 million barrels of oil equivalent for the nine months ended March 2014, underpinned by a 71% increase at Onshore US. As a result of the successful divestment of Liverpool Bay and well remediation activities in the Hawkville that are now complete, total petroleum production for the 2014 financial year is expected to be approximately 245 million barrels of oil equivalent. The overall reduction in full-year guidance has been mitigated by an increased contribution from higher-margin crude and condensate.
  • Full-year copper production guidance remains unchanged at 1.7 million tonnes, with a strong June 2014 quarter anticipated.

This is ahead of most forecasts. So what’s Rio’s excuse?

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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.