[ferro-alloys.com]Mining giant BHP shipped a total of 77.05 million mt of iron ore from Western Australia in the April-June quarter on the back of annualized production of more than 300 million mt/year, the Anglo-Australian company said July 21.

Shipments in the June quarter were 11% higher than the weather-impacted March quarter and up 6% on the year, supported by record production at Yandi and Mining Area C.

The record June quarter took total iron ore shipments in the Australian financial year ended June 30 to 283.25 million mt, compared with 270.20 million mt in FY2019.

Iron ore production of 75.6 million mt in April-June in the Pilbara took total output for the fiscal year to 281.05 million mt, up from 269.59 million mt a year earlier.

In its operational review of the quarter, BHP said it had achieved an average price of $77.36/wet mt FOB for its iron ore in FY2020, up 16% on the year. The company sold 187 million mt of fines and 63.6 million mt of lumps in the 12 months ended June.

BHP sold 11% of its iron ore on a spot basis in the April-June quarter, according to S&P Global Platts analysis, compared with 9% by Vale and 5% by Rio.

In contrast to the Platts iron ore benchmark price, which BHP described as "resilient", metallurgical coal prices had been "under downward pressure through the June 2020 quarter."

BHP said Chinese demand for met coal had been firm, but noted that China's coal import policy remained a "key uncertainty."

BHP Mitsubishi Alliance, a 50:50 joint-venture with Japan's Mitsubishi, produced a total 18.1 million mt of met coal from Queensland in the June quarter, up significantly from 13.7 million mt in the March quarter and flat on the year. Total Queensland coal sales of 72.6 million mt in the year to end-June fell from 74.5 million mt a year earlier.

In its commentary on global steel markets, BHP said it expected Chinese crude steel and pig iron production in 2020 to be higher than last year. This is in line with Platts' view that crude steel and pig iron production will increase by around 2% this year.

But steel production outside of China could fall by a double-digit percentage due to COVID-19 related output cuts and "collapsing demand" in downstream industries such as auto in Europe and Japan, the company said.

"While we note that only about 10% of Chinese apparent steel demand is exported in finished products, the weakness in global demand will weigh on Chinese flat products manufacturers," BHP said.

(S&P Global Platts)

• [Editor:王可]