---
endpoint: analytics
pattern: Materials
status: done
latency_ms: 187932
conversation_id: b93bcf28-26c8-4241-b89e-8f8a4b3755a0
citations: 8
created: 2026-05-31 18:09:17Z
---

# Who are the key customers and suppliers of BHP?

# BHP — Key Customers and Suppliers

BHP Group is a diversified resources major; its customer/supplier base is shaped almost entirely by its four-pillar commodity portfolio: iron ore (WAIO in the Pilbara), copper (Escondida, Pampa Norte, Olympic Dam / Copper South Australia), metallurgical coal (BMA in Queensland), and the developing Jansen potash project in Canada. Below is the evidence-based map of who BHP sells to and who it buys from, drawn from BHP's own earnings calls, shareholder briefings, and the M&A call on the Daunia/Blackwater divestment to Whitehaven.

Note: No internal CLSA / sell-side research note in the RMS workspace contains a discrete "BHP customers and suppliers" breakdown — the relevant CLSA documents (e.g., *Australian Resources*, *Champion HLD* notes, *Whitehaven site visit takeaways*) mention BHP only as a peer or counterparty. The substantive customer/supplier evidence is therefore from public BHP transcripts (TFS / Manticore).

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## 1. Key Customers — by commodity

### Iron Ore (WAIO — the largest single profit pool)

| Customer geography | Role |
|---|---|
| **China** | **Single largest customer.** "China is our biggest iron ore customers, as a matter of fact, is the biggest iron ore customer in the world. China produces around 1 billion tonnes of steel every year" [1] |
| **Rest of Asia (Japan, Korea, India, Taiwan, SE Asia)** | Pilbara shipments from Port Hedland — "from where we ship our high-quality product around the world, mostly to customers in Asia, with approximately one ship leaving Port Hedland every 6 hours" [2] |

- **Customer concentration**: ~70% of seaborne iron ore globally goes to China; BHP's WAIO is structurally exposed via long-standing relationships with Chinese mills. Management frames the relationship as a "mutual dependency" — BHP and Rio Tinto operate in a global duopoly with Brazil (Vale) as the only other major source [1].
- **Decarbonization-aligned customers**: BHP has Scope-3 / low-carbon steel partnerships covering "almost 20% of world steel production as partners or working on low carbon emission technologies for steelmaking. These are customers in India, in China, in Korea, in Japan, in Europe" [3]. Named Australian partner: **BlueScope** (alongside Rio Tinto, in an electric melting furnace consortium for Pilbara ore) [3].

### Metallurgical Coal (BMA — Queensland)

| Customer | Role |
|---|---|
| **Global steel producers — incl. Indian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese mills** | Hard coking and PCI coal buyers; long-term offtake contracts |
| **JV partner: Mitsubishi Development** | BMA is a 50/50 BHP–Mitsubishi joint venture; co-counterparty in the Daunia/Blackwater divestment to Whitehaven |

On the Daunia/Blackwater sale call, Whitehaven (the buyer) confirmed strong inbound interest from BHP's metallurgical-coal customer base looking to convert to equity offtakers: "we see a strong, as I say, inbound interest from global steel producers wanting to -- well, they're expressing interest to team up with us" [4]. Geographic skew: India and Southeast Asia for the higher-grade metallurgical product.

### Copper (Escondida, Spence, Olympic Dam, Copper South Australia)

Sold primarily to smelters and refiners globally. BHP frames copper customers as more diversified than iron ore — "about 50% for copper" of seaborne flows go to China [1], i.e. roughly half flows elsewhere (DM electrification, EV supply chains).

### Potash (Jansen — first production late 2026)

Customer base is being built out via marketing MOUs ahead of first production: "we have a deeply experienced marketing team, which is now already based across different customer, countries across the world. And this team has done a fantastic job of already getting memorandum of understandings, which are basis of offtake of a product for both Jansen 1 and Jansen 2 capacity" [5]. Specific counterparties not disclosed publicly on the call; demand drivers cited are global agricultural / food-security customers.

---

## 2. Key Suppliers — by category

### a. Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) — heavy mining fleet

Mining-truck and locomotive OEMs are BHP's most strategically important industrial suppliers because the fleet renewal underpins both production capacity and Scope-1 decarbonization.

| Supplier | Equipment | Status |
|---|---|---|
| **Caterpillar (CAT)** | Battery-electric haul trucks; explicitly called out by the Chair as the OEM that "build[s] our trucks" [6] | "We've partnered with 2 of our current vendors, Caterpillar and Komatsu, to work collaboratively to develop commercially viable zero emissions trucks" [7] — first CAT trial truck slated from 2024–2025 |
| **Komatsu** | Battery-electric haul trucks | Same partnership as above [7] |
| **Wabtec** | Battery-electric locomotives for WAIO rail (Pilbara → Port Hedland) | "we signed a partnership agreement with 2 locomotive manufacturers, Wabtec and Progress Rail, to develop battery electric locos" — 4 locos to be trialed (2 each), full fleet replacement of ~180 locos by mid-2030s [8] |
| **Progress Rail** | Battery-electric locomotives | Same Wabtec/Progress Rail partnership [8] |
| **Liebherr** | Electric excavator (model 9400) for Olympic Dam | Disclosed in operational decarbonization briefing |
| **Epiroc** | Fully electric jumbo drills | Trials at Olympic Dam / underground assets |

### b. Engineering, Procurement & Construction (EPC) and Mine Services

- **Contractors at producing mines** — BHP runs WAIO with "around 8,000 full-time employees and more than 1,000 contractors" in the Pilbara alone [2]. Across the group: "80,000 employees and contractors across BHP."
- **Coal contracting / mining services** — referenced contractors include legacy operators at Blackwater (referred to as "[boomer]" in the transcript, likely the prior contract miner) whom Whitehaven flagged as performing well at the asset post-sale.

### c. Energy / Power Suppliers

- **Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs)** — BHP has executed Australian renewable PPAs to cut Scope-2 emissions; counterparties not individually named on the calls but include utility / generator suppliers across Chile (Escondida moved to 100% renewable power + desalinated water) and Australia.

### d. Logistics / Infrastructure

- **DBCT (Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal)** and **RG Tanna terminal at Gladstone** — the export terminals used by Daunia and Blackwater BMA tonnes (referenced on the divestment call).
- **Port of Hedland** — operated by BHP itself (Nelson Point + Finucane Island) [2], so largely captive infrastructure rather than third-party supplier.

### e. Indigenous Suppliers (procurement / social value pillar)

A material and growing supplier category: BHP spent "more than USD 330 million" with indigenous suppliers globally (FY2023, doubling YoY), across roughly 220 supplier relationships — a category called out as a strategic pillar.

### f. JV Partners (counterparties straddling supplier/customer)

- **Mitsubishi Development Pty Ltd** — 50% partner in BMA (metallurgical coal)
- **Rio Tinto, BlueScope** — consortium partner in the electric melting furnace (ESF) steel decarbonization pilot [3]
- **Vale** — JV partner historically (Samarco — relevant for tailings liabilities rather than commercial procurement)

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## 3. Structural Read-throughs

- **Customer concentration risk**: WAIO has high single-country exposure (China), but the geological reality of the global iron-ore duopoly (Australia + Brazil) and China's lack of domestic ore make this a stable mutual dependency rather than a one-way risk in management's view [1].
- **Customer diversification trajectory**: As BHP shifts capital toward copper (~50% China seaborne), potash (~25%), and high-grade met coal (Indian/SE Asian growth markets), the customer mix becomes structurally less China-skewed [1].
- **Supplier-side bottleneck**: The Caterpillar/Komatsu fleet electrification timeline is the binding constraint on Scope-1 decarbonization; replacing ~650 heavy-haul trucks and ~180 locos depends on OEM commercial release schedules from mid-2020s through mid-2030s [7][8].

---

**Sources**
[1] BHP Group Limited — Shareholder/Analyst Call (China is biggest iron ore customer; ~70% seaborne to China; ~50% for copper; ~25% potash)
[2] BHP Group Limited — Shareholder/Analyst Call (WAIO — 8,000 employees + 1,000 contractors; Port Hedland ships every 6 hours, mostly to Asia)
[3] BHP Group Limited — Special Call (Scope-3 customer partnerships covering ~20% of world steel production in India, China, Korea, Japan, Europe; BlueScope + Rio Tinto ESF consortium)
[4] BHP Group Limited, Mitsubishi Development Pty Ltd, Whitehaven Coal Limited — M&A Call (Daunia/Blackwater — strong inbound interest from global steel producers as JV/offtake partners)
[5] BHP Group Limited — Special Call (Jansen potash marketing — MOUs in place for Jansen 1 & 2 offtake)
[6] BHP Group Limited — Special Call (OEMs identified as Caterpillar, who build BHP's trucks)
[7] BHP Group Limited — Shareholder/Analyst Call (Caterpillar and Komatsu zero-emission truck partnerships)
[8] BHP Group Limited — Shareholder/Analyst Call (Wabtec and Progress Rail — battery-electric locomotive partnerships for WAIO rail)

## Citations

- [1] **BHP Group Limited - Special Call** · external
- [2] **BHP Group Limited - Shareholder/Analyst Call** · external
- [3] **BHP Group Limited - Special Call** · external
- [4] **BHP Group Limited - Special Call** · external
- [5] **BHP Group Limited - Shareholder/Analyst Call** · external
- [6] **BHP Group Limited - Shareholder/Analyst Call** · external
- [7] **BHP Group Limited, Mitsubishi Development Pty Ltd, Whitehaven Coal Limited - M&A Call** · external
- [8] **BHP Group Limited - Special Call** · external

