...Leading Seaborne Iron Ore Producer: Vale's `BBB' Foreign Currency (FC) Long-Term rating is underpinned by its flagship iron ore business, with a market share of approximately 22% of the seaborne iron ore trade. Delivery of high-grade, low-cost iron ore is reinforcing the company's position, which should allow it to gradually increase annual output between 400 million tonnes (t) and 450 million t by 2020. Vale's S11D iron ore project, which is slated to produce around 90 million t a year, is the main driver of the increase in volumes. S11D had its first shipment of iron ore in January 2017. Improving Credit Strength: Fitch Ratings expects Vale to report net leverage of around 2.1x in 2016, a solid improvement from 3.7x in 2015. Vale's focus on cost-cutting initiatives and ramp-up of higher volumes has led to increased profitability in an improved pricing environment. Based on Fitch's mid-cycle price assumption of USD45/t for the remaining 11 months of the year, Vale's net leverage is projected...
