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.
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%.
