Australian mining giant Rio Tinto Group recently announced the production and sales report for the second quarter of 2023, which showed that benefiting from the capacity growth of the Gudai-Darri project, Rio Tinto's iron ore production in the second quarter increased quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year. But Rio's iron ore shipments fell on a like-for-like basis, hurt by a derailment on its own railway and a planned overhaul of Dampier Port.
In the second quarter of 2023, Rio Tinto continued to expand its blending and spot sales business in Chinese ports. In the second quarter, Rio Tinto's spot iron ore sales at Chinese ports were 5.7 million tonnes, down from 6.2 million tonnes in the first quarter and 7.2 million tonnes in the second quarter of 2022. In the first half of 2023, Rio Tinto's spot iron ore sales at Chinese ports were 11.9 million tonnes, down from 14.2 million tonnes in the first half of 2022. As of June 30, 2023, Rio Tinto's iron ore inventory at Chinese ports was 5.7 million tonnes, including 2.6 million tonnes of Pilbara powder. In the first half of 2023, about 90% of Rio Tinto's iron ore products sold at Chinese ports were screened and blended at Chinese ports.
