Biggest Miner Says China's Shift to Quality Iron Ore Will Hold

  • Premium ore, coking coal prices to keep benefiting: BHP CCO
  • China’s mills to retain two-thirds of recent boost in margins

Iron ore awaits loading at BHP Billiton Ltd.'s loading facility at Nelson Point in Australia.

Photographer: Nelson Ching/Bloomberg

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BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s biggest miner, forecasts reforms in China’s steel sector will continue to hand an advantage to suppliers of higher-quality iron ore and coking coal as consumption of the alloy keeps growing well into the next decade.

Steel mills are likely to retain about two-thirds of the improvements in margins seen since a push began in China in late 2015 to reduce excess capacity and meet more stringent environmental standards, Chief Commercial Officer Arnoud Balhuizen said Monday in an interview with Bloomberg Television.