MELBOURNE, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Iron ore shipments to China from Australia's Port Hedland fell 1% in September from a month earlier, data from the Pilbara Ports Authority showed on Friday.

Iron ore exports to China from Port Hedland in September fell to 39.74 million tonnes from 40.16 million tonnes in August, but rose from 36.05 million tonnes a year earlier.

Total iron ore shipments from Port Hedland slipped to 45.57 million tonnes in September from 46.02 million tonnes in August but rose from 41.97 million tonnes in Sept 2019.

Port Hedland is used by three of Australia's top four iron ore miners, namely BHP Group, Fortescue Metals Group and Gina Rinehart's Roy Hill.

(Reporting by Sonali Paul; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Edmund Blair)