BHP bets on iron ore resilience despite China slowdown; Q1 output misses

BHP Group on Tuesday struck an upbeat note on global iron ore demand even as it warned of cooling growth in China, while first-quarter output for the steelmaking element slightly missed estimates on maintenance works at Port Hedland. “Overall macro-economic signals for commodity demand remain resilient, and global growth forecasts are moving higher,” said CEO Mike Henry. Earlier in the month, rival Rio Tinto RIO flagged Chinese demand had gathered pace as global economies front-loaded investment ahead of looming tariffs. BHP, the world’s largest listed miner, said iron ore production from its Western Australia mine operations on a 100% basis was 70.2 million metric tonnes (Mt) in the three months ended September 30, compared with a Visible Alpha consensus estimate of 71.55 Mt. BHP had recorded iron ore output from its Western Australian operations of 71.6 Mt a year earlier. Sales from the operations were broadly in line with the prior year, with BHP reporting a 5% sales rise of ...