In March of the current year, iron ore shipments from Australia's Port Hedland increased by 25.2 percent compared to February and were down 6.9 percent year on year, totaling 25 million metric tons.
According to the information released by the Port Authority, in March iron ore shipments made from Port Hedland to China amounted to 19.1 million metric tons, increasing by 22 percent compared to February and up 36.8 percent compared to the same month of the previous year. Japan and South Korea followed China in March this year with 2.7 million mt and 2.4 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.