The BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) share price is currently down 1.8%, adding to yesterday's fall.
Since the end of August, BHP shares have now fallen by around 10%.
Yesterday's decline may have largely been due to BHP reaching the ex-dividend date. This simply means that new investors buying shares aren't entitled to the final FY22 dividend.
In theory, BHP shares aren't worth as much in the short-term if investors aren't entitled to the large dividend.
However, that's old news now.
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Why is the BHP share price falling?
Well, you'd need to ask each individual seller why they're selling today, at a lower price.
But, there could be a few different factors.
It's certainly possible that a few more investors decided to sell their shares after the ex-dividend date.
But there could be other things happening.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is currently in the red by 0.25%, so BHP may be suffering from general market negativity, though BHP itself is responsible for a sizeable part of that decline considering BHP is such a large part of the overall ASX 200 index.
Iron ore price sinks
However, the thing that may be on investors' minds the most is changing commodity prices.
As a resource business, BHP's ability to generate profit is heavily dependent on the commodity price.
The costs of mining iron ore don't really change whether the iron ore price is US$10 higher or US$10 lower per tonne. So, a higher price can largely add straight to the net profit after tax (NPAT) line (after paying the government a bit more). But the reverse is true when the iron ore price drops as well, which can hurt the BHP share price.
Commsec pointed out that overnight:
Iron ore futures slid US$8.37 or 8% to US$96.39 a tonne after the lockdown of Chengdu revived fears that the virus will continue to hamper China's economic recovery.
An 8% fall in the iron ore price is a hefty fall in one day.
Lockdowns may not be permanent, but it does increase uncertainty for the market.
However, iron ore isn't BHP's only commodity – its portfolio includes other resources like copper, nickel and potash.
The company also recently tried to buy the ASX copper miner OZ Minerals Limited (ASX: OZL), but that was knocked back.
BHP share price snapshot
Over the last six months, BHP shares have dropped 24%.
