(Adds guidance, CEO comment)
Oct 19 (Reuters) - Australia's South32 Ltd S32.AX , the world's No. 1 producer of manganese ore, said on Thursday that first-quarter output for the metal rose 11 percent from a year ago, helped by strong market demand.
The miner said it was taking advantage of strong market conditions by maintaining its South African manganese ore sales at a rate of 3.5 million tonnes a year.
"Our key commodity markets continue to benefit from strong demand and a steepening of industry cost curves," Chief Executive Graham Kerr said in a statement.
Coking coal production dropped to 494,000 tonnes in the July-September quarter from 1.4 million tonnes a year earlier, owing to technical problems at its Appin mine in Australia, the company said.
UBS had expected the company to report coking coal production of 747,000 tonnes for the quarter.
South32 also confirmed that it would operate one longwall at the Illawarra coking coal Appin mine for the rest of FY18.
The company added it would provide FY18 production guidance for Illawarra Metallurgical Coal in due course.
Production of manganese alloy slipped to 56,000 tonnes from 59,000 tonnes a year ago.