inneth Bajaj, Associate Project Manager at GlobalData, commented: “Declines from Brazil and India were major contributors to the reduced output in 2020. Combined production from these two countries fell from a collective 638.2 million t in 2019 to an estimated 591.1 million t in 2020. The reduced output from the iron ore giant, Vale, was the key factor behind Brazil’s reduced output, while delays in the auctioning of mines in Odisha affected India’s output in 2020.
“Miners in Australia were relatively unaffected by COVID-19 due to effective measures adopted by the Australian government, while a speedy recovery in China led to a significant 10.4% increase in the country’s iron ore output.”
Looking ahead, the global iron ore production is expected to increase by 111.3 million t to 2302.5 million t in 2021. Rio Tinto is expected to produce up to 340 million t of iron ore, while BHP has released production guidance of 245 – 255 million t, supported by the start of the Samarco project in December, which is expected to produce between 1 – 2 million t.The company has retained its guidance for Australian mines at 276 – 286 million t on a 100% basis, due to scheduled maintenance work at its ore handling plant and tie-in activity at the Area C mine and South-Flank mine.
Bajaj continued: “The remaining companies are expected to produce more than 600 million t of iron ore, including FMG, whose production is expected to range between 175 – 180 million t supported by its Eliwana mine that commenced operations in late December 2020, and Anglo American, which is expecting to produce between 64 – 67 million t. Vale is expected to resume 40 million t of its production capacity, taking its overall production capacity to 350 million t in 2021, with production guidance of 315 – 335 million t.”
