July 16 (Reuters) - Rio Tinto reported around 3% sequential rise in its second-quarter iron ore shipments on Tuesday, as improved weather conditions led to higher production after a maintenance-heavy March quarter.

The world's largest producer of iron ore shipped 80.3 million tons (Mt) of the steel-making commodity from its Pilbara operations in the three months ended June 30, compared with 78 mt in the first quarter.

That missed Visible Alpha consensus estimate of 82.1 Mt.

(Reporting by Rishav Chatterjee and Shivangi Lahiri in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)