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Investing.com-- BHP Group Ltd (ASX:BHP) clocked a 2% drop in its fiscal first quarter iron ore output, the world’s largest miner said on Tuesday, as maintenance activities at its mines and ports took more production offline than initially expected.
BHP said iron ore production from its Western Australia mine operations on a 100% basis was 70.2 million metric tonnes, compared to 71.6 Mt a year ago. The figure also missed a Visible Alpha estimate of 71.55 MT.
BHP left its production guidance for fiscal 2026 unchanged between 284 to 296 Mt.
The world’s largest miner carried out several maintenance activities across its key Western Australia operations, including a major rebuild at Port Hedland.
BHP said its average realized price for iron ore sales grew 5% year-on-year to $84.04/wet metric tonnes, which in turn could herald strong revenue growth for the quarter. Sales were also in line with last year, with a 5% increase in sales of higher-value lump, BHP said.
Beyond iron ore, BHP’s copper production rose 4% year-on-year to 493.6 kilotons, while steelmaking coal production rose 8% to 4.9 Mt. Production guidance for the two commodities was left unchanged, at 1,800-2,000 Kt annually for copper, and at 18-20 Mt for coal.
While BHP logged a largely stable Q1, it may face increased headwinds from top market China in the coming months.
Bloomberg reported in late-September that Chinese authorities had ordered major steelmakers and traders to pause purchases of any dollar-denominated seaborne iron ore cargoes from BHP.
The miner logged its weakest annual profit in five years in fiscal 2025, hurt by weakening demand in China and sluggish iron ore prices.