Rio Tinto sees soft 2022 iron ore shipments on labour, project issues

The world's biggest iron ore producer said it expects to ship between 320 million and 335 million tonnes in 2022 from a region in Western Australia.

Rio Tinto forecast slightly weaker-than-expected 2022 iron ore shipments on Tuesday, citing tight labour market conditions and production delays from the new greenfields mine at Gudai-Darri project.

The world's biggest iron ore producer said it expects to ship between 320 million and 335 million tonnes (Mt) in 2022 from the Pilbara region in Western Australia, a forecast with a mid-point below RBC estimate of 332 Mt and UBS' estimate of between 330 Mt and 340 Mt. Rio shipped 321.6 Mt of the steel-making commodity last year, down 3% from 2020.

Shares of the global miner fell as much as 1.9% to A$107.91,