BENGALURU/ MELBOURNE: Australia’s Fortescue Metals Group reported lower profit and dividends for the first half on Wednesday as it flagged inflationary pressures persisting for the rest of the year, sending its shares up to 3% lower.

Iron ore prices slipped from elevated levels during the half as stringent COVID-19 curbs and property sector woes in China tempered steel demand in the world’s second-biggest economy.

Given the turbulence in markets due to interest rates, Fortescue has “stuck to its knitting”, with these results being ordinary after an exceptional last year, said David Lennox, a resource analyst at Fat Prophets in Sydney.

The Perth-based miner declared an interim dividend of A$0.75 per share, lower than A$0.86 distributed last year.

For the first half ended Dec. 31, Fortescue received $87 per dry metric tonne (dmt) for its iron ore, down from $96 per dmt a year earlier, even as it logged record shipments of 96.9 million tonnes, up 4% from a year ago.

At the same time, operating costs averaged $17.43 per wet metric tonne, 14% higher from a year ago due to significant demand for skilled labour across the mining sector and a crippling inflationary environment across the globe.