SYDNEY (Reuters) - Iron ore shipments to China from Australia's Port Hedland terminal dropped 12 percent to 32.03 million tonnes in July from 36.6 million tonnes in June, port data released on Tuesday showed.
Overall iron ore shipments from the world's biggest export terminal for the steelmaking raw material dipped to 37.9 million tonnes from 43.1 million tonnes in June, according to the Pilbara Ports Authority.
Port Hedland is used by three of Australia's top four iron ore miners, BHP Billiton <BHP.AX>, Fortescue Metals Group <FMG.AX> and Gina Rinehart's Hancock Prospecting.
Rio Tinto <RIO.AX> <RIO.L> uses the nearby Dampier and Cape Lambert ports to ship iron ore.
(Reporting by James Regan; Editing by Joseph Radford)
