BHP is expected to confirm its flagship iron ore division remains on track to meet its full-year export target, allowing the company to capitalise on an extremely weak performance by the world's biggest producer of the steelmaking ingredient.
Analysts think BHP shipped just more than 68 million tonnes of iron ore from Western Australia over the past three months, with Tuesday's quarterly update set to come just 72 hours after Brazilian miner Vale downgraded its iron ore "fines" production target by between 7 per cent and 9 per cent.