Iron ore price drops after Trump’s China tariff threat
US President Donald Trump said that he could hit China with 10% tariffs on all imports from as early as next month.
Shares of Australia’s Fortescue slipped on Thursday to a one-week low as it posted a marginal rise in its second-quarter iron-ore shipments, largely in line with market expectations for the period.
The company’s shares fell as much as 1.3% to A$18.78 by 2343 GMT, slipping to its lowest level since Jan. 15.
Fortescue attributed its quarterly output to the management of wet weather impacts in the Pilbara region, which were offset by a shutdown in facilities at its Iron Bridge project.
The uptick in iron ore shipments comes as Fortescue, the world’s fourth largest iron ore miner, is making continuous efforts to boost output at its new high grade Iron Bridge project, which is expected to be producing at full capacity later this year.
The miner said it completed a major shutdown of the ore processing facility and concentrate handling facility at Iron Bridge during the quarter, impacting overall production, as noted by analysts at Jefferies, “resulting in a material miss to our and consensus expectations.”
Analysts at Jefferies and UBS also flagged misses for hematite costs realized in the quarter compared to their estimates. The firm posted hematite C1 cost of $18.24 per wet metric ton (wmt), down 10% against $20.16 per wmt realized in the previous quarter.
Fortescue posted quarterly iron shipments of 49.4 million mt, compared to a market consensus of 49.2 mt and 48.7 mt recorded a year earlier.
The Perth-headquartered firm is now assessing the implications for its US hydrogen project in Arizona, it said in its statement, after the US government released final rules for green hydrogen tax credits.
Fortescue maintained its fiscal 2025 guidance for iron ore shipments between 190 mt and 200 mt.
It also maintained the capital expenditure for Fortescue Metals between $3.2 billion and $3.8 billion.
(By Shivangi Lahiri and Sneha Kumar; Editing by Alan Barona)
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