Iron-Ore Exports From Australia's Port Hedland Jump

   By Rhiannon Hoyle 
 

SYDNEY--Iron-ore shipments from Australia's Port Hedland export hub jumped 24% on-month in March as more cargoes left the country's northwest bound for China and South Korea.

More than 34.4 million metric tons of the steelmaking commodity were shipped from Port Hedland, the world's largest iron-ore port, according to data from the local port authority.

Mining companies like BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP), Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. (FMG.AU) and Atlas Iron Ltd. (AGO.AU) use Port Hedland to ship iron ore. They have been raising output from operations nearby as new mines opened and they worked their existing operations harder.

Last month, Fortescue said it had completed an aggressive expansion of its Pilbara mining operations and had tripled its output capacity to 155 million tons of iron ore a year.

Exports to China--the world's biggest buyer of iron ore, used to make steel for new airports, bridges and skyscrapers--totaled 27.0 million tons, up 27% compared to February. Shipments to South Korea jumped 57% to 4.1 million tons, more than offsetting a 27% drop in exports to Japan, which totaled 2.0 million tons.

Compared with the same month a year earlier, total shipments from the hub were up 38%.

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