Australian iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group has announced its financial results for the first half ended on December 31 of the financial year 2018-19.
During the given period, Fortescue's net profit amounted to US$644 million, down 5.4 percent compared to the same period of the previous financial year. The company's sales revenue amounted to US$3.54 billion, down 3.77 percent year on year. Meanwhile, Fortescue's EBITDA decreased by 10.66 percent year on year to US$1.63 billion in the given period.
The company expects its iron ore shipments for the full financial year 2018-19 to be around 165-173 million mt.
According to Fortescue, during the last financial year record steel mill profitability incentivized steel mills to maximize their output by using higher iron content ores. With recent reductions in steel mill margins, together with Fortescue’s integrated marketing and operations strategy, the demand for lower iron content ores has increased and the spread in price between high and low iron content ore has narrowed.