China lifts partial ban on iron ore purchases from Australia’s Hancock

China Mineral Resources Group (CMRG), a Chinese state-owned buyer, has allowed steel mills to resume purchasing certain types of iron ore from Australia’s Hancock Prospecting. This was reported by Reuters, citing sources.

Such purchases were banned during negotiations that lasted more than a year.

In September, CMRG informed steel mills that they could once again purchase fine-grained iron ore (MB fines) from Hancock.

Chinese metallurgists had been banned from purchasing this raw material from the world’s fifth-largest iron ore producer since the beginning of 2024. This happened when negotiations for CMRG to become the exclusive seller in China for Roy Hill (a project in the Pilbara region of Western Australia), which is now part of Hancock, reached an impasse.

None of the sources said whether CMRG and Hancock had reached a final agreement in their dispute, but one insider noted that China Mineral Resources Group is the sole authorized seller of Hancock Prospecting ore in China.

The parties did not respond to the agency’s requests for comment.

Hancock’s larger competitor, BHP, has also faced difficult negotiations with CMRG. Chinese steel mills and traders are prohibited from purchasing certain shipments from the company.

At the end of September, Bloomberg reported that CMRG had asked major steel producers and traders to temporarily suspend purchases of any dollar-denominated seaborne cargoes from BHP Group. Earlier, the state buyer called on steel mills to suspend purchases of Jimblebar blend, and the new directive expanded the previous restrictions.

The price dispute between Australia’s BHP Group and state buyer China Mineral Resources Group (CMRG) over iron ore could continue until early 2026.