BHP Group expects China’s ban on imports of Australian coal to continue for some time, a policy that has dented the top global miner’s coal returns, chief executive Mike Henry said on Tuesday.
“We’re certainly not banking on any near term resetting of that policy,” Henry said.
On Tuesday, BHP reported its best first-half profit in seven years and declared a record interim dividend, as top metals user China’s strong appetite for iron ore to support its infrastructure push kept prices elevated.
The world’s largest listed miner said in a statement it expects a continuation of strong Chinese demand in 2021, and recovery in the rest of the world’s global crude steel production.
“It’s a pretty solid result,” said portfolio manager Andy Forster of Argo Investments.
BHP is the first of its Australian peers to report this week, with all expected to cash in on sky high prices for iron ore. Rio Tinto reports on Wednesday and Fortescue on Thursday. Last month, BHP forecast record annual iron ore output.
The company declared an interim dividend of US$1.01 per share, up from last year’s payout of US$0.65 per share.
Its underlying profit from continuing operations for the six months that ended on December 31 rose to US$6.04 billion from US$5.19 billion last year. It missed a consensus of US$6.33 billion, however, from 17 analysts compiled by research firm Vuma Financial.
BHP is expected to make an investment decision soon on its US$5.3-US$5.7 billion Jansen potash project in Canada and the Scarborough natural gas project off Western Australia, in which BHP will invest US$1.4-US$1.9 billion.
Jefferies expects both to be approved, “but we believe [Mergers and acquisitions] options will be considered as well,” it said in a report.
