Rio Tinto PLC (LON:RIO) has cut its 2019 outlook for iron ore shipments from Australia's Pilbara region due to production disruption and damage caused by tropical cyclone Veronica.
The FTSE 100-listed firm said annual Pilbara shipments are now expected to be at the lower end of its previous guidance of between 338mln to 350mln tonnes. Rio's 2018 iron ore shipments from the region totalled 338.2mln tonnes.
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In a brief statement, the miner said the damage from last week’s cyclone coupled with a fire at a port facility in January will lead to a loss of about 14mln tonnes of production in 2019.
On Friday, Rio issued force majeure notices to some iron ore customers due to damage from the cyclone.
In January, the company had declared force majeure on iron ore shipments to some customers following a fire at its Cape Lambert export terminal in Australia.
Force majeure is invoked when a company tells a counterparty it cannot perform a contractual obligation due to circumstances outside its control.