Is the Pilbara killer gunning it?

Thursday 30 July 2026

If you read RIO’s palava, you wouldn’t think so.

Q2 sales: 1.6 Mt (100%) shipped to China during the quarter (H1: 2.2 Mt). The first customer collections were completed in April following tertiary crushing in China, with Q2 sales totalling 0.4 Mt (100%) and achieved Fe at 65.8%.

RIO does make it clear whether this is only its share of Simfer or the total. It would make sense if it was only its share, so double the numbers for true volumes.

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About the author

David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.