BHP declared its biggest-ever half-year dividend of US65¢,but the dividend was lower than analysts'forecasts of US71¢. BHP said this was due to a"cautious approach"in light of the near-term volatility posed by the virus.
"If the viral outbreak is not demonstrably well contained within the March quarter,we expect to revise our expectations for economic and commodity demand growth downwards,"the company said.
Fears about the disruption caused by coronavirus in China,by far BHP's biggest customer base,have been rocking global commodities markets. As factories and shipping ports are locked down across the country,Australian exporters have been in talks with customers to delay shipments in order to avoid declarations of"force majeure"on contracts.
Mr Henry on Tuesday said the human toll from the deadly virus was"tragic"but the the economic hit would be"muted"if the virus was contained by March 31.
"Despite near term uncertainty – due to the coronavirus outbreak,trade policy and geopolitics – we remain convinced about the positive underlying fundamentals of our commodities,"he said.
Almost 90 per cent of Chinese steel production is located in provinces where operations were due to resume by the end of February,Mr Henry said on a conference call with investors,going further to say that BHP was seeing a lot of interest for its products because of some of the supply issues facing other producers.
Plato Investment Management,which owns BHP shares,said the result reinforced its view a strong outlook remained for Australia's iron ore miners,"unless the coronavirus situation intensifies and slows Chinese and global growth".