SYDNEY: Iron-ore exports from Australia’s Port Hedland increased by 7.9% on-month in March, according to the latest data from the local port authority.
Cargoes of iron ore leaving Port Hedland, the world’s largest iron-ore shipping hub, totaled 39.5 million metric tons last month, versus 36.6 million in February, Pilbara Ports Authority said in a monthly report. Shipments destined for China, which observed a weeklong holiday the prior month, jumped to 32.6 million tons from February’s 27.9 million, it said.
Total March exports of the steelmaking commodity were also higher than the same month a year earlier, when 36.6 million tons of ore was shipped through the site.
Some of the country’s largest miners including BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP.AU) and Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. (FMG.AU) use Port Hedland. The port is located in Australia’s remote northwest Pilbara region, which supplies more than half of all the world’s iron ore traded by sea.
