The Pilbara Ports Authority said yesterday Port Hedland had shipped 34.4 million tonnes of iron ore last month.

Although the figure is down from the 37.5 million tonnes total achieved in October, the November tally is 23 per cent higher than the volumes exported a year earlier.

The 2013 total of 28.1 million tonnes, in turn, compares with 21.7 million tonnes of iron ore shipped out of the port in November 2012.

It highlights the step-change over the past year in iron ore production being exported out of the Pilbara as the ramp-up by the three biggest players - BHP Billiton and Fortescue Metals Group in Port Hedland and Rio Tinto in Dampier and Cape Lambert - approaches its peak.

The Port Hedland figures are likely to continue rising - barring weather disruptions - assuming Gina Rinehart's 50 million tonne-a-year Roy Hill project achieves a smooth ramp-up from next September.

The rising flood of iron ore being shipped out of the Pilbara is a key reason why the price of the steel-making commodity has fallen from $US134.69 a tonne of 62 per cent product shipped to China's Qingdao port to $US69.25/t last night.

Coinciding with a period of weaker-than-expected Chinese demand, the iron ore flood has depressed the commodity's price and forced all Pilbara operators to shelve most expansions and instead embark on drastic cost-cutting initiatives.