Brazil's mining giant Vale reported a solid rise in fourth-quarter iron ore production, achieving a rough balance with sales.

The company's iron ore production totaled 89.39 million tonnes over the quarter, up 10.6% from the same period last year and 3.7% from the previous quarter, according to its latest quarter report.

Production of iron ore pellets, recognized as a premium production, rose 19.2% year on year to 9.85 million tonnes, which was 7.4% higher than the previous quarter. This notable increase was backed by higher pellet output at Brucutu, further driving up the output at Tubarão plants.

Vale achieved total sales of 77.89 million tonnes in the fourth quarter, decreasing 4.1% year on year yet up 11.7% quarter on quarter. Sales of iron ore pellets totaled 10.29 million tonnes, up 17.0% on the year and 19.4% compared to the third quarter.

In 2023, Vale totally produced 321 million tonnes of iron ore, rising 4.3% year on year, which was higher than the guidance target of around 315 million tonnes.

This was mainly attributed to the continued initiatives to improve asset reliability at S11D and solid performance at Itabira and Vargem Grande complexes, as well as the rising procurement from the third party.

The accumulative output of iron ore pellets rose 13.5% year on year to 36.46 million tonnes, failing to achieve its annual production target of 37.00 million tonnes.

Vale started briquettes production in the fourth quarter of 2023, which was a significant step to support steelmaking decarbonization via expanding the iron ore agglomerates supply.

Vale's total sales of iron ore came in at 257 million tonnes throughout 2023, down 1.5% year on year, while that of pallet rose 8.1% on the year to 35.84 million tonnes.

Vale is set to produce 310-320 million tonnes of iron ore and 38-42 million tonnes of pallet in 2024, showed the report.

(Writing by yan.sun  Editing by Alex Guo)
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