Iron ore miners highlight India, ASEAN as they look for growth after China (updated)

BHP

16/06/2026 07:55

Adds details throughout

    SINGAPORE, June 16 (Reuters) - 
    Australia's iron ore miners emphasised on Tuesday how growing steel demand in India and Southeast Asia would help offset the stagnating market in top customer China, where they also face pressure from the state-owned buyer to lower prices and offer better terms.
  

    Already the world's second largest steelmaker, India plans to 
    double output
     to 400 million tons by 2035-2036 from the current 168 million tons. 
  

    While still a fraction of China's almost one billion tons of production, the new targets will require vast additional quantities of iron ore and metallurgical coal, which in the latter case India almost entirely imports.
  

    BHP BHP.AX, among the world's largest producers of met coal, expects demand in India to double by 2050, group sales and marketing officer Michiel Hovers said at an industry conference in Singapore on Tuesday. The miner has long said South Asia will be a key growth market.
  

    Rio Tinto chief commercial officer Bold Baatar told the same conference that new steel demand in India and Southeast Asia will offset stagnation in China, where a crisis in the property sector, once the biggest steel consumer, is in its fifth year.
  

    Steel output in China fell to a 
    seven-year low
     in 2025, compounding the growing challenge iron ore miners face from state-run buyer, China Mineral Resources Group (CMRG), which is using 
    hardball tactics including purchasing bans
     to negotiate better terms for the country's steelmakers.
  

    The situation in China looks like it is unlikely to improve this year. Chinese steel demand is set to fall again, deputy secretary-general Jinkui Zhao told the same conference.
  

    Meanwhile, CMRG last month kicked off a 
    new pressure campaign
     against iron ore miner Fortescue, following a protracted effort against BHP this year.
  

 (Reporting by Amy Lv, Ruth Chai and Solomon Cefai in Singapore； additional reporting by Lewis Jackson in Beijing; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus anad Kim Coghill)
 ((naveen.thukral@thomsonreuters.com; +65-6870-3829; Reuters Messaging: naveen.thukral.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))