BHP stays quiet on China in Q1 results

BHP (ASX: BHP) achieved record material mined at its WA Iron Ore operations amid reports that China has told its major steelmakers and traders to temporarily halt purchases of all cargoes from the miner.

Despite record material mined, iron ore production decreased 1% to 64mt.

FY26 iron ore production guidance remains unchanged at 258-269mt.

BHP says the first quarter was a period of significant planned maintenance for WAIO.

Iron ore sales were broadly in line with the prior year, with a 5% increase in sales of higher-value lump.

“We sell and ship iron ore products via different commercial distribution channels, this includes seaborne sales and portside sales in China which have increased over recent years in line with our strategy,” BHP said in its report.

“We will continue to optimise distribution channels to support product placement.”

In the miner’s only other mention of China in the quarterly report, BHP said it expects GDP growth of about 5% for the year in the country despite some expected deceleration in growth in H2 CY25.

“Overall macro-economic signals for commodity demand remain resilient and global growth forecasts are moving higher,” BHP chief executive Mike Henry said.

“With momentum from a strong first quarter, BHP is on track to deliver on full-year guidance and we are making progress on our growth pipeline across Australia and the Americas.”

For copper, BHP saw a total production increase of 4% to 494kt driven by record concentrator throughput at Escondida.

“In copper, major disruptions at some of our competitors’ mines have tightened overall market fundamentals, benefitting our world-class portfolio of assets,” Mr Henry said.

FY26 copper production guidance remains unchanged at 1800-2000kt.