BHP cuts FY iron ore production guidance as cyclone hits output

A BHP iron ore train travelling in Western Australia. (Image courtesy of BHP)

BHP Group, the world’s biggest miner, on Wednesday cut its annual iron ore production forecast on disruptions caused by a tropical cyclone which pushed its quarterly output of the steel-making material 5 percent lower.

The Anglo-Australian miner lowered projections for its fiscal 2019 iron ore production to 265 million-270 million tonnes, from 273 million-283 million tonnes.

Iron ore output came in at 64 million tonnes for the three months ended March 31, compared with 67 million tonnes a year ago. That was below an average of estimates by Goldman Sachs and UBS of 65.8 million tonnes.

(By Aditya Soni and Nikhil Kurian Nainan; Editing by Leslie Adler)