Find ECHEMI at Booth.D1, INACHEM 2016.

　　Rio Tinto said Tuesday it sold 158.9 million mt of iron ore from Western Australia over January-June, up 8% year on year, and the company expects to ship a total of 330 million mt in calendar 2016.

　　This means exports from the Pilbara over the next two quarters would need to be much stronger than the 82.2 million mt Rio achieved in April-June, which was up 7% from January-March but well below exports in the two preceding quarters.

　　Western Australian iron ore sales were above the 80.9 million mt produced in the June quarter, as the company continued to drawdown inventories built up at its mines in January-March. Adverse weather across northern Australia was less of a factor than usual in the first quarter of this year, allowing output to remain strong.

　　Australian iron ore production in April-June was up 8% on 75.2 million mt a year earlier, while January-June output of 160.8 million mt was up 10% on 146.3 million mt in the corresponding half of 2015.

　　Rio confirmed its Western Australian production target of 330 million-340 million mt in 2017, indicating there will only be a slight uplift from the current production run rate of 330 million mt/year. Installed production capacity at the mines in Western Australia is at or above 350 million mt/year currently, but delays to the roll out of Rio's automated trains in the Pilbara is curbing exports.

　　Rio's board is also likely to make a decision on whether or not to progress the Silvergrass iron ore project in Western Australia over the next half. The company's new chief executive Jean-Sebastien Jacques, who replaced Sam Walsh on July 2, has already indicated that his focus will be on improving productivity rather than lifting exports further to chase market share.

　　Rio said around 21% of its iron ore sales in January-June were priced according to the previous quarter's average index price. The balance was sold at either the current quarter average, current month average, or on a spot basis. Rio is the biggest seller of iron ore on the spot market, according to S&P Global Platts data.

　　The miner's majority-owned Iron Ore Company of Canada, or IOC, produced 8.5 million mt of concentrate and pellets over January-June, up 6% year on year.

　　April-June output from IOC of 4.4 million mt was flat on the year before, but up 6% from January-March. Stronger output enabled the company to lift first-half sales by 17% year on year to 8.6 million mt, boosted by strong second quarter sales.

　　Rio's share of hard coking coal production in April-June slumped by 14% year on year to 1.8 million mt, which was down 9% from January-March. First-half output of 3.7 million mt was down 8% on the same half in 2015.