China's imported iron ore prices dropped by 7.2 percent year-on-year to reach US$62.7 per ton on average in the first three quarters, statistics with the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) show.

Analysts attributed the decrease to the slowdown of China's imports of iron ore.

China imported 247 million tons of iron ore in the first nine months, up a hefty 24.2 percent from a year earlier, but down 7 percentage points in growth rate, and meanwhile, this is the first time since 2003 that the import growth has dipped under the 30 percent bar, said Luo Bingsheng, CISA's vice chairman.

"The prices are declining because the imports of iron ore are turning to a moderate growth from a fast growth, which were influenced by the steady growth of domestic iron ore output," he told an ongoing international symposium on the iron raw material in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province.

In the first three quarters, China produced more than 400 million tons of iron ore, up 37 percent year-on-year, and the domestic prices have gone below the imported prices since May, CISA statistics show.

As a result in August, domestic steel businesses purchased iron ore from domestic mines 2.56 times that in January, statistics show.

After iron ore prices surged 71.5 percent last year, costing China -- the world's largest iron ore importer -- an additional US$570 million, the country has been demanding a bigger say in setting global benchmark prices.

China has been very active in negotiations with top international providers Companhia Vale do Rio Doce, BlueScope and Hammersley Iron. It only reluctantly agreed to a further 19 percent rise in iron ore prices this year.

The symposium is regarded as a warming up of a fresh round of international iron ore prices negotiation, which attract great attention of the world iron and steel industry.

More than 40 Chinese iron and steel companies including Shanghai-based Baosteel as well as the world top three iron ore providers Australian BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Brazilian Vale do Rio Doce attended the symposium.

But the executives of the foreign iron ore providers declined to comment on the iron prices next year, only saying that they are optimistic about China's steel market and iron ore imports. They also predicted a gap between demand and supply in China.

Lu Jianhua, director of China's Ministry of Commerce's Foreign Trade Department, did not think imported iron ore prices would continue to rise, saying that past four straight years of increase had made mines gain huge profits but left steel businesses earning little or even suffering losses.

"It is not in the interests of the two sides of demand and supply," he said.

Lu predicted that China's total iron ore imports for the year would be around 320 million tons, up 20 percent from a year earlier but down 12 percentage points in growth rate.

"Chinese steel businesses should actively participate in the global iron ore pricing and it is also justified for the Chinese government to pay attention to this, because iron ore is the major raw material of iron and steel industry, which concerns the whole of national economy," he said.

(Xinhua News Agency October 26, 2006)