As trade wars wage on, the world’s turbulent iron ore markets have taken their toll on Anglo American’s ferrous metals unit.
Kumba, Africa’s largest iron ore producer, reported a 4% slump in revenue to R34.5bn for the six months to end-June.
Headline earnings per share (HEPS) were flat at R22.26 from R22.27 before. The miner declared an interim dividend of R16.60 per share, down 12% from the previous first half.
The dip in revenue came as iron ore prices remained under pressure this year, offsetting a 3% uptick in Kumba’s interim sales volumes.
US tariffs and retaliatory Chinese tariffs have resulted in uncertain and volatile iron ore markets, with prices down about 7.43% in the past 12 months.
Unlike SA’s platinum group metals, coal, gold, manganese and chrome, iron ore was included in US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs in April and his recent 30% tariff on SA imports, leaving miners such as Kumba caught in the crosshairs.
Against this backdrop, there has been a wave of disinvestment from the company this year. As of end-June 2025, Kumba’s share price was down 35% from a year prior, giving up just shy of R50bn in value.
The group has pinned its hopes on its new “ultra-high-dense-media-separation” technology being deployed at its Sishen mine, which should improve margins by increasing the amount of premium iron ore extracted from the mine.
Kumba has spent R11.3bn in recent years to implement the technology, which could provide some shelter from the storm by boosting output and extending Sishen’s life expectancy.
The promise of third-party access to SA’s rail network has also provided some encouragement. The hope is that private sector involvement will improve Transnet’s logistics performance by easing the pressure on the utility provider.
However, the cash-strapped enterprise has estimated that it needs R14bn a year over the next five years to get its infrastructure up to standard for private operators.
In its annual results, Kumba said Transnet’s ageing infrastructure and inadequate maintenance practices continued to affect the reliability and efficiency of the iron ore channel, which it relies on fully to export its ore.
Kumba has played an active role in helping Transnet address some of the channel’s underlying challenges, including by contributing to the development of the ore corridor restoration programme in 2024 and by getting involved in corridor’s “ore users’ forum”.
The fruits of its labour included an 8% rise in second quarter sales, as ore railed to the Saldanha Bay Port increased 4% to 18.9-million tonnes during the period under review.
“In an environment characterised by global economic uncertainty and market volatility, Kumba is positioned to continue delivering stakeholder value,” said Kumba CEO Mpumi Zikalala.
“Kumba created R25.9bn of enduring shared value of which our empowerment partners will receive R1.9bn as we continue to reimagine mining to improve people’s lives,” she said.
Kumba’s share price rose 4.8% to R310.02, its biggest one-day gain in a week.
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