In May of the current year, iron ore shipments from Australia's Port Hedland increased by 7.3 percent compared to April and were up 53.2 percent year on year, totaling 27.9 million metric tons.
According to the information released by the Port Authority, in May iron ore shipments made from Port Hedland to China amounted to 23.3 million metric tons, increasing by 20.9 percent compared to April and up 86.2 percent compared to the same month of the previous year. Japan and South Korea followed China in May this year with 2.4 million mt and 1.5 million mt respectively.
Port Hedland handles production from mines owned by BHP Billiton, Atlas Iron and Fortescue Metals Group in the iron ore-rich Pilbara region of Western Australia.