The world’s biggest mining company, BHP Billiton, yesterday announced record iron ore production for the quarter, but said a clear picture on demand from major market China had yet to emerge.
The Anglo-Australian group said output of the key steel-making ingredient rose 11 percent over the previous quarter to 30.1 million tonnes for the three months ending on Sept. 30 and was up 1 percent over the same period last year.
“Production was higher than the June 2009 quarter, reflecting improved performance at Western Australia Iron Ore and all three pellet plants at Samarco (Brazil) operating since July 2009,” BHP said in a statement.
BHP Billiton said there had been increasingly positive news across most economies, with China experiencing robust economic growth due to strong domestic demand and stimulus spending.
“China’s re-stock of commodities is essentially complete and there is now evidence of higher than normal stockpiles across the supply chain,” it said.
“We continue to look for Chinese imports to more closely reflect real demand over the remainder of 2009 calendar year,” it said.
But the mining giant said there was little evidence of sustainable demand for metals emerging yet in advanced economies amid the global economic slump.
“We maintain our view that real demand follow-through in developed economies may not be transparent until mid-2010 calendar year,” it said.
The diversified miner said its best-ever iron ore output came as a major expansion drive placed a drag on production.
But the figure failed to meet some analysts’ expectations, particularly after rival Rio Tinto earlier this month said its output for the same quarter was up 12 percent compared with a year earlier.
“I thought it might surprise on the upside and it didn’t do that,” ABN AMRO analyst Warren Edney told Dow Jones Newswires.
But Austock analyst Tim Gerrard said the figures indicated a healthy iron ore trade relationship between China and Australia, despite tensions over the arrest of a Rio Tinto executive in Shanghai earlier this year.
“The market was jumping at shadows a couple of months ago when the Rio people were detained and people were expecting the worst,” Gerrard said.
“There were fears that the Chinese were not taking as many shipments but all of that has come to naught,” he said.
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