In December last year, manganese ore shipments from Australia's Port Hedland totaled 44,102 metric tons, increasing by 21.3 percent compared to November and down by 28.9 percent compared to the same month of 2015, according to the monthly data released by the Port Hedland Port Authority.
Meanwhile, in December last year China was the sole destination for manganese ore shipments from Port Hedland.
Port Hedland handles production from mines owned by BHP Billiton, Fortescue Metals Group and Atlas Manganese in the manganese ore-rich Pilbara region of Western Australia.