Rio Tinto Q4 iron ore shipments fall, but sees more stable China

Heavy rains in Western Australia impacted shipments in the three months to December, which were down 1% - slightly missing expectations, Rio said on Thursday.

It added that the Chinese economy still faced headwinds from an ongoing property market oversupply, “although the November data on home sales and prices showed signs of stabilisation following many months of policy loosening”.

China's steel mills have been a key market for the mining industry, but a property market crash has hammered demand. Rio noted that market volatility had resulted in an 8% fall in the iron ore price.