Australia's Fortescue trims annual iron ore shipments guidance after cyclone
Australian iron ore Miner Fortescue Metals reported flat third-quarter iron ore shipments on Thursday, as it trimmed its annual shipments forecast after cyclone Veronica.
Fortescue Metals trimmed its annual shipments forecast because of disruptions caused by a tropical cyclone.
It cut its fiscal 2019 shipments estimate to 165 million- 170 million tonnes, down from 165 million -173 million tonnes.
Fortescue Share price
Shares of Fortescue Metals have risen as much as 1.8% on Thursday to A$7.560 after dropping over 8% in the previous session
The top miner of the steelmaking commodity shipped 38.3 million tonnes in the quarter to March 31, compared with 38.7 million tonnes in the same period last year.
Chief Executive Officer Elizabeth Gaines said: ‘Closure of the Port Hedland port, combined with localised flooding in the area caused by Tropical Cyclone Veronica in late March, resulted in the loss of five days of shipments equating to 2.5 million tonnes,’
Cyclone impact
Tropical cyclone Veronica impacted the surge in iron ore prices, propelling Fortescue’s stock upto 80% higher in 2019.
Fortescue has attempted to hike up demand by moving to produce higher grade iron ore, after its lower grade products fell out of popularity with Chinese buyers.
The company recently started shipping mid-grade iron ore to pump up its margins, and reiterated that it expected to deliver 8-10 million tonnes of the new product in fiscal 2019.
Fortescue said it would spend about $2.6 billion with a Taiwanese partner to develop a "premium product" iron ore project in Western Australia.
'The Iron Bridge product will increase our average grade, providing Fortescue with the ability to deliver the majority of our products at greater than 60 percent iron grade,' Gaines said.
This information has been prepared by IG, a trading name of IG Markets Ltd and IG Markets South Africa Limited. In addition to the disclaimer below, the material on this page does not contain a record of our trading prices, or an offer of, or solicitation for, a transaction in any financial instrument. IG accepts no responsibility for any use that may be made of these comments and for any consequences that result. No representation or warranty is given as to the accuracy or completeness of this information. Consequently any person acting on it does so entirely at their own risk. Any research provided does not have regard to the specific investment objectives, financial situation and needs of any specific person who may receive it. It has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and as such is considered to be a marketing communication. Although we are not specifically constrained from dealing ahead of our recommendations we do not seek to take advantage of them before they are provided to our clients. See full non-independent research disclaimer and quarterly summary.
Seize a share opportunity today
Go long or short on thousands of international stocks.
- Increase your market exposure with leverage
- Get spreads from just 0.1% on major global shares
- Trade CFDs straight into order books with direct market access
Live prices on most popular markets
- Forex
- Shares
- Indices
Prices above are subject to our website terms and agreements. Prices are indicative only
