In June this year, iron ore shipments from Australia's Port Hedland decreased by 6.8 percent compared to May, but were up 21.11 percent year on year, totaling 33.6 million metric tons. The figure constitutes a 2.4 percent decline from Port Hedland's all-time record monthly export volume of 34.43 million metric tons recorded in March this year.
According to the information released by Port Hedland Port Authority, in June iron ore shipments made from Port Hedland to China amounted to 29.18 million metric tons, decreasing by 2.41 percent compared to May, but up 27.18 percent compared to the same month of 2013. South Korea and Japan followed China in June this year, receiving 2.34 million mt and 1.40 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.