Rio Tinto’s fourth-quarter iron ore shipments rise 7%

Reuters | January 20, 2026 | 2:08 pm Top Companies Australia Iron Ore

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(Image courtesy of Rio Tinto.)

Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO), RIO.L reported a 7% rise in its fourth-quarter iron ore shipments on Wednesday, aided by record quarterly production from Pilbara operations and strong rail and port outload performance.

Iron ore prices advanced in the quarter, buoyed by resilient demand from top consumer China, where strong steel exports helped sustain buying interest.

The world’s largest producer of iron ore shipped 91.3 million tonnes (Mt) of the steel-making commodity from its Pilbara operations in the three months ended December 31, compared with 85.7 Mt shipped last year.

That exceeded Visible Alpha consensus estimate of 88.2 Mt.

Rio shipped 326.2 Mt of iron ore from its Pilbara operations in 2025, landing at the lower end of its forecast range of 323 to 338 Mt.

Rio Tinto, which is in early takeover talks with Glencore (LON: GLEN), said mined copper production on a consolidated basis grew 5% to 240,000 tonnes in the quarter, higher than Visible Alpha consensus estimate of 214,400 tonnes.

A potential tie-up with Glencore could fast-track Rio’s copper expansion as surging demand from artificial intelligence and energy transition boosts the appeal of the highly conductive metal.

(Reporting by Himanshi Akhand and Roshan Thomas in Bengaluru)