Ferrexpo pellet production dips

Ferrexpo, the iron ore producer, announced a dip in first-half pellet production from the previous year.

According to the FTSE 250-listed group's production report for the second quarter of 2017, production of iron ore pellets dropped 9.8% to 5,160 thousand tonnes in the first half of 2017, from 5,723 thousand tonnes in the first half of 2016.

Production in the second quarter of 2,536 thousand tonnes was also down 3.3% from the first quarter.

The Ukraine-focused, Swiss-headquartered company is the third largest exporter of pellets to the global steel industry. A total of 11.2m tonnes of pellets were produced in 2016.

Shares were up 20% to 203.50 by 09:16 BST.