This article is 8 years old. Images might not display.
The company shipped a record 169.4 million tonnes of iron ore through its Herb Elliott port at Port Hedland, beating guidance of 165Mt.
FMG previously said shipments were ahead of target due to unseasonal mild weather experienced in the March quarter.
It comes after the company shipped 165.4Mt for the 2015 financial year.
Earlier this week, UBS estimated that FMG had beat its guidance and shipped around 170Mt, based on Port Hedland shipping figures.
Analysts estimated FMG’s June exports would be 14.6Mt.
“This is up 6% sequentially, and implies an annualised rate of 178Mtpa against annual guidance of 165Mtpa,” UBS said.
FMG will release its full quarterly results on July 27 and the market will be awaiting its C1 cost figure.
The company set an ambitious target of lowering C1 costs to $US13 per tonne.
However, that guidance was put out when the Australian dollar was at 71c. It has since risen back to 76c.
Every 1c move in the Aussie dollar impacts FMG’s C1 costs by 18-20c.
CEO Nev Power told MNN in April that a 76c exchange rate added around $1 to costs, which would make it harder to hit the target of $13/t.
“We did put that guidance out at 71c, but we’ll still be working very hard to try and achieve that, even at today’s dollar, but it’s certainly going to be harder,” he said at the time.
“There’s still a lot more momentum in our efficiency and productivity program, so we hope to offset a significant amount of that.”
The Metal Bulletin iron ore spot price is currently sitting at $59.15/t.
FMG shares have outperformed this year, rising by 135% so far.
Shares hit an intraday high of $A4.43 yesterday, before closing at $4.40, the highest close since September 2014.
