China Daily quoted the China Iron & Steel Association said China has started talks for next year iron ore pricing and is expected to increase imports of the raw material in the fourth quarter.

Mr Luo Bingsheng vice chairman of the industry body without elaborating said China initiated discussions with suppliers.

He said that China will import more iron ore in the fourth quarter compared with any of the previous three quarters because of industry demand for stockpiling, but the whole year imports will still be lower than last year.

According to statistics from the General Administration of Customs imports of iron ore decreased 2.5%YoY in the first three quarters. Chinese import of ore was about 150 million tonnes per quarter in the first three quarters of this year. It reached 628 million tonnes for the whole of last year.

However, China is paying more money this year, spending USD 19.1 billion more so far compared with the same period last year a rise of 52.5% because prices soared by 56.31%YoY.

(Sourced from China Daily)