Swiss-based miner Ferrexpo, which produces iron ore pellets in Ukraine, said its production to the end of April was up 20.4% to 3.2Mt y-o-y.
At its AGM it said ore demand has recovered from its 2009 lows, suggesting that pellet prices should remain well above 2009 levels for the remainder of 2010.
Of this 2.9Mt was produced from own ore, a 10.4% increase over the previous period. The split of production between 62%Fe and 65%Fe was 51.5% and 48.5% respectively.
More than 90% of its sales have been based on long term volume framework agreements. Chairman Michael Abrahams said sales had been very strong.
The company said that it had introduced quarterly iron ore pricing in some cases, but noted that pricing mechanisms in the iron ore industry were not yet clear.
The company also noted that a move to short-term pricing mechanism would result in more price volatility. This ‘would likely give rise to a greater degree of short term period-to-period variability in our results.’