Iron giants to add 200 million tons of supplies through 2020

Port Hedland (File Image)

The world’s two largest iron-ore exporters Brazil and Australia will each add about 100 million metric tons of supply through the end of the decade, boosting a global glut and hurting prices in a slump that will then force marginal miners to cut output, according to Citigroup Inc.

Shipments from Brazil will expand to 480 million tons in 2020 from 371 million this year, while Australian cargoes rise to 934 million tons from 835 million, the bank said in a report. That’ll lift the surplus to 56 million tons in 2018 from 20 million this year, before price-induced curtailments help bring the global market back toward a balance, Citigroup estimates.

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