Anglo American announced that its iron ore production from the Minas-Rio project in Brazil totaled 6.36 million tons in Q1 2026, marking a 10.3% year-on-year decrease. Additionally, its metallurgical coal production plummeted 30.9% to 1.54 million tons, primarily due to operational impacts following an incident in March 2025 and severe weather disruptions at the Dawson open-cut operations.

Lloyds Metal and Energy Limited (LMEL) reported a massive 120% year-on-year increase in iron ore production for the fiscal year ending March 2026, reaching 21.96 million tonnes. The company also recorded a 529% surge in pellet production, totaling 9.1 million tonnes, as its new processing capacities came fully online. LMEL has set an aggressive target of 26 million tonnes of iron ore production for the 2026-27 fiscal year to meet the rising demand from India's rapidly expanding domestic steel manufacturing sector.

State-owned NMDC Limited reported a record-breaking performance for the fiscal year ending March 2026, achieving its highest-ever annual output of 53.15 million tonnes, a 21% increase year-on-year. This surge was supported by a massive 51% production spike in March alone as the company pushed to meet national infrastructure targets. Despite the record domestic volume, the mismatch between local low-grade output and the high-grade requirements of advanced steel mills continues to drive India's increasing reliance on seaborne procurement for its premium feedstock.

Recently, Inner Mongolia Shuangli Mining Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Shuangli Mining") held the completion and trial production ceremony for the upgrading and capacity expansion project of the mining and beneficiation system at the No. 2 Iron Mine in the Geqi mining area.Once the project reaches full production, it will produce 870,000 mt of iron ore concentrates, 9,580 mt of copper concentrates, 5,432 mt of lead concentrates, and 2,052 mt of zinc concentrates annually, injecting new momentum into Shuangli Mining's green and high-quality development.

Kazakhstan-based steelmaker Qarmet has announced a strategic expansion of its Kentobe iron ore deposit, aiming to transition the site from an open-pit operation to a massive underground mining complex. Supported by a broader $400 million investment program, construction of the underground facility will commence in 2028 to tap into reserves exceeding 100 million metric tons. This modernization will secure long-term raw material supplies for Qarmet's metallurgical operations, lifting the site's annual iron ore output from the current 750,000 metric tons to over 850,000 metric tons in the near term.

Australia’s iron ore output is anticipated to reach 993.4 million tonnes in 2026, a 2.6% year-on-year increase. Growth is driven by the ramp-up of the Onslow, Western Range, and Iron Bridge projects. This will be partially offset by the planned closures of the Yandi and Wonmunna mines, which together contributed 27.2 million tonnes in 2024.

[SMM Steel] State-run miner NMDC Limited will exceed 50 million mt of iron ore production in FY 2025-26, the first company in India to reach this annual milestone. This surpasses the previous record of 45.2 million mt (FY24), supporting India's strategic goal of expanding steelmaking capacity to 300 million mt by 2030.

India’s largest state-owned miner, NMDC, recorded its best-ever February performance in 2026 with an output of 5.35 million tonnes, a 16% year-on-year increase. Cumulative production for the April-February period reached 47.79 million tonnes, up 18%. The growth supports India's target to reach a national steel capacity of 300 million tonnes by 2030.

Recently, the 2024 calendar year production and sales reports of the four major mines were released successively. According to statistics, the total iron ore production of the four major mines in 2024 reached 1.139 billion mt, up 16 million mt YoY, an increase of 1.4%.

[SMM Daily Commentary: Iron Ore Output Continues to Decline in Steel Mills, Coke Kicks Off Seventh Round of Price Cuts] Today, coking coal futures fluctuated, and transactions in the spot market continued to improve. The online auction of coking coal saw better results today, with a slight increase in auction prices and an increase in the enthusiasm of downstream coking plants and traders for procurement. Looking ahead, as the seventh round of coke price cuts commences, coke enterprises will continue to prioritize procurement based on demand. However, due to the need for restocking, coke enterprises will maintain stable demand for coking coal in the short term, leading to narrow fluctuations in coking coal prices.