April 16 (Reuters) - Rio Tinto RIO.AX, RIO.L reported a 9% drop in first-quarter iron ore shipments on Wednesday as tropical cyclones that hit Australia's west coast disrupted its shipments.
The world's largest iron ore producer shipped 70.7 million metric tonnes (Mt) of the steel-making commodity from its Pilbara operations in the three months ended March 31, down from 78 Mt in the same period last year.
That missed a Visible Alpha consensus estimate of 73.6 Mt.