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Kumba quarterly sales fall 10% as port difficulties curb exports

Kumba Iron Ore on Tuesday reported a 10% fall in first quarter sales due to port devices challenges, as South Africa's logistical issues continue to throttle product exports.

The Anglo American Plc system has actually currently curtailed production to match the decreased capacity of state-owned rail and port operator Transnet, which is fighting equipment scarcities, cable theft and vandalism of its facilities.

In an upgrade, Kumba stated its sales declined to 8.5 million metric loads in the three months to March 31, from 9.5 million heaps during the exact same duration of 2023.

This was generally due to the unreliability of equipment used to deal with ore consignments at Saldanha Bay Port, Kumba said.

As a result, iron ore stockpile levels at the port doubled to 1.2 million lots in the quarter, while Kumba's total iron ore stockpile increased by 1.4 million heaps to 8.5 million tons.

Kumba said production dipped 2% to 9.3 million heaps in line with its method to match output to readily available logistics capability. Ore required to port by Transnet's rail services was flat at 9.4 million lots.

The company said it anticipates full-year production of in between 35 million to 37 million lots and sales within the 36 million to 38 million heap variety based on ongoing logistics constraints.