Rio Tinto's iron ore production fell 3% year-on-year due to hurricanes

Rio Tinto, the world's second-largest iron ore producer, estimates that total annual iron ore production will be 191 million tons, and announced that iron ore output in the March quarter fell 3% from the same period last year.

According to Reuters, Rio Tinto, the world's second-largest iron ore producer, estimated on Wednesday that its annual iron ore production is roughly in line with market expectations. In 2011, iron ore production will total 191 million tons. In the first quarter, the company's iron ore production fell 16% from 40.1 million tons in the previous quarter to 41.9 million tons, which was lower than the previous forecast of 46.9 million tons by UBS analysts. It also announced that iron ore production in the March quarter fell by 3% compared to the same period last year due to the hurricane damage caused by the operation of Pilbara in northwestern Australia earlier this year.

Rio Tinto Group's hard coking coal production in the first quarter fell 29% from the previous quarter to 1.6 million tons. In terms of coal, Rio Tinto estimated that its 2011 production of hard coking coal, semi-soft coking coal and thermal coal will be 9.3 million tons, 3.2 million tons and 18.2 million tons, respectively.