Commodity Online LONDON: Rio Tinto has reduced its annualized run rate of iron ore production at its Pilbara mines of Western Australia by approximately 10 percent.
Rio Tinto has revised its estimate of iron ore shipments from the Pilbara region of Western Australia to between 170 million tonnes and 175 million tonnes (100 per cent basis) in 2008.
Tom Albanese, Chief executive, Rio Tinto, said, "Operations continue to perform well but demand has continued to decelerate. This reduction is a prudent move to align production with revised customer delivery requirements in the light of the fourth quarter drop in Chinese demand. We believe this will be a short, sharp slowdown in China, with demand rebounding over the course of 2009, as the fundamentals of Chinese economic growth remain sound."
