News: RIO UPDATE 1-Rio Tinto's first-half profit falls 34% on easing iron ore prices

(Updates with context on iron ore prices in paragraph 2, details on iron ore prices and H1 shipments in paragraph 3, and dividend in paragraph 5)

July 26 (Reuters) - Rio Tinto RIO.L (RIO) reported a near 34% drop in first-half underlying earnings and slashed its interim dividend on Wednesday, as easing iron ore prices offset an uptick in shipments from Pilbara operations.

Iron ore accounts for 70% of Rio Tinto's profits and its prices could improve going forward as Beijing has pledged to roll out more policies to boost growth after the world's second-largest economy struggled with an uneven recovery in the first half.

Average realised prices for Pilbara iron ore slipped to $98.6 per wet metric tonne (wmt) in the first half, 11.1% below last year. That offset a 7% rise in shipments of the steel-making ingredient from Pilbara to 161.7 million tonnes.

The world's largest iron ore producer reported underlying earnings of $5.7 billion for the six months ended June 30, lower than last year's $8.63 billion and a consensus of $5.85 billion, according to Visible Alpha.

The Anglo-Australian miner declared an interim dividend of $1.77 per share, below last year's $2.67 apiece.