Jan 16 (Reuters) - Rio Tinto on Tuesday reported a 1% fall in its iron ore shipments in the fourth quarter of 2023 even as it ramped up production at its Gudai Darri mine in Western Australia.

The world's largest producer of iron ore shipped 86.3 million metric tons (Mt) of the steel-making commodity from its Pilbara operations in the fourth quarter of 2023, compared with 87.3 Mt a year ago.

That brought the calendar year shipments to 331.8 million metric tons, at the mid-point of its guidance of 320 Mt to 335 Mt. (Reporting by Rishav Chatterjee and Poonam Behura in Bengaluru; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)