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Strict COVID-19 curbs in top steel producer China curtailed economic activity last year, pulling down iron ore prices from lofty levels scaled a year earlier.
Rio Tinto last year earned an average realised price of just $106.1 per dry metric tonne (dmt) of iron ore, compared with $143.8 per dmt in 2021.
Apart from higher wages due to a shortage of skilled labour, the Anglo-American miner had to pay more for fuel and raw materials.
The company, one of the world’s top iron ore producers, reported underlying earnings of $13.3 billion for 2022, compared with a record $21.4 billion in 2021 and a Refinitiv estimate of $13.8 billion.
It declared a full-year dividend of $4.92 per share, down from 2021’s record payout of $10.40 per share.
