[miningmx.com] — KUMBA Iron Ore reported a 2% rise in third-quarter output on Thursday and said it sees an increase in the volatility of iron ore prices in the short term.
Africa’s largest producer of the steelmaking ingredient said it produced 10.95 million tonnes of iron ore in the three months to end-September, compared with 10.7 million tonnes in the same period a year earlier.
Kumba, a unit of global miner Anglo American, said export sales were 9.2 million tonnes in the quarter under review, an 11% rise from a year earlier, but a drop of 7% from the previous quarter, due to an annual maintenance shutdown.
“Export sales volumes remain unaffected by the lower production experienced in the first quarter of 2011, as stock was used to supplement production,” it said in a statement.
Kumba said while it believes that the medium to long term market fundamentals would remain robust, it expects an increase in the volatility of iron ore prices in the short term.
