It is reported that neither the Big Three ore miners nor Chinese mills have shown any sign of compromising although the clock has ticked from end June deadline and the talks stalled at the moment.

Global ore miners insist the 33% benchmark cut agreed with other Asian steel mills citing the recovering steel market in China and active buying while China mills stick to a higher price cut to reflect the falling steel prices.

China imported 297 million tonnes of iron ore in the H1 up by 29.3% or 67.33 million tonnes from a year ago while domestic pig iron production advanced merely 5.56% or 13.64 million tonnes to 259 million tonnes in the same period.

Imports exceeded demand considerably stemming from incremental output factoring in domestic ore miners production loss resulting in severe port congestion and rising freight rates.