Fortescue’s Iron Ore Exports Edge Up With Guidance Unchanged

Fortescue Ltd.’s iron ore shipments rose 1% last quarter from the year before, adding to concern the world’s biggest producers of the steel-making material are fueling a supply glut as Chinese demand wanes.

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Bloomberg News

Paul-Alain Hunt

Published Jan 22, 2025  •  2 minute read

An autonomous vehicle receives ore from a dumper at the Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. Cloudbreak mine in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, Australia, on Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023. Chinese demand for Australian iron ore will remain strong despite the nation's disappointing post-pandemic recovery, according to Fortescue Metals, the world's fourth-biggest producer. Photo by Carla Gottgens /Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) — Fortescue Ltd.’s iron ore shipments rose 1% last quarter from the year before, adding to concern the world’s biggest producers of the steel-making material are fueling a supply glut as Chinese demand wanes.

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The Australian miner exported 49.4 million tons of iron ore in the three months to end-December, it said in a statement Thursday. Fortescue retained full-year shipment guidance of 190 million tons to 200 million tons. 

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The Perth-based company, helmed by billionaire and Chairman Andrew Forrest, last year backtracked on plans to become a green hydrogen powerhouse and remains less diversified in other commodities than its peers. That’s raised concerns Fortescue is over-exposed to iron ore, as demand from China faces headwinds due to the nation’s ongoing property crisis and plateauing steel needs.

The miner continued to lower its production costs in the period, but said heavy rainfall had caused it to reduce port stockpiles of ore in Western Australia’s Pilbara region. Its larger peers, BHP Group and Rio Tinto Group, were similarly impacted. The weather events came as Fortescue conducted a major maintenance shutdown at its Iron Bridge project, which is now being ramped back up to full production. 

Fortescue has been devoting funds to iron ore exploration in the Pilbara and in Africa’s Gabon. It’s also searching for critical minerals in Argentina, Peru and Kazakhstan.

Iron ore remains Fortescue’s lifeblood. The company put its goal of producing 15 million tons of green hydrogen a year by 2030 on hold last year. Activity on the technology was slowed down across the board, and it cut about 700 jobs.

Fortescue’s bigger rivals have been diversifying into other commodities — particularly copper — as appetite for iron ore flattens.

BHP earlier this week said iron ore output rose 1% in the same period, but copper production surged 17% ahead of an expected boom in demand for the metal that’s key to the energy transition. Meanwhile, Rio said this month shipments of the steelmaking material slipped 1% even as copper exports expanded 26%.

(Updates with details throughout.)

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