Rio Tinto said it expects iron ore shipments to come in at the lower end of its target for 2017 at 330m tons amid further rail maintenance in the second half of the year.

The company’s previous iron ore guidance for 2017 was between 330 to 340m tons, but it said the lower target takes into account production in the first half of the year and continued rail maintenance in the latter half of the year.

Iron ore shipments from the Pilbara region in Western Australia were reported at 77.7m tons for the three months to June, down 6 per cent year on year, as shipments were hit by rail track maintenance, the company said.

Rio said the average price for iron ore in the first half of the year was $62.4 per wet metric ton, up from the 2016 full-year price of $49.30.

The miner revised down its expected share of 2017 hard coking coal production to 7.2 to 7.8m tons from 7.8 to 8.4m tons previously on the impact of Cyclone Debbie, which hit Queensland in March, damaging the rail lines connecting mines to ports.

The company’s Australian-listed shares were flat on Tuesday at A$65.94. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.5 per cent.

Source: Financial Times

• [Editor:Wang Linyan]