BHP’s warning for high-cost iron ore producers

According to The Australian Financial Review, BHP has vowed to grow iron ore export volumes in the face of declining demand from China and has warned higher-cost competitors will be “driven out of the market” as the commodity price softens.
BHP sold 287.7 million tonnes of Australian iron ore last year and plans to grow exports to 305 million tonnes in the “medium term” through low-cost initiatives.
BHP continues to study more expensive and longer-dated options to grow Australian iron ore exports to 330 million tonnes annually, but Mr Henry stressed the miner would consider the impact of those extra volumes on iron ore prices before investing in such an expansion.
BHP believes Chinese iron ore demand has peaked and will remain near current levels for several years before starting to decline. Sliding demand will coincide with increased supply from the likes of BHP and Rio Tinto’s Simandou project in Guinea.
“Should [iron ore supply] surpluses persist as we forecast, we would expect some high-cost suppliers to be driven out of the market over time,” said BHP in a market filing.

https://www.afr.com/companies/mining/bhp-cuts-dividend-to-fund-growth-splurge-20240826-p5k5ij