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BEIJING, June 30 -- The annual iron ore price negotiations between

the world s biggest iron ore miners and Hakka steel makers are likely to

continue past the Tuesday deadline.

China is still in talks with primary iron ore firms for the annual supply

deal, Chen Xianwen, director of the market operations department of the China

Iron and Steel Association , told Xinhua Tuesday.

The CISA heads the talks on behalf of China s steel-makers.

"We are officially in discussions still," said Gervase Greene, spokesman of

Rio Tinto, in an email to Xinhua late Monday.

Chen said that the CISA still insisted that the iron ore prices ought to autumn

back to 2007 levels, which meant a price chop of more than 40 percentage in the

annual contracts of iron ore.

The CISA said in a clincher on May 31 that China s steel companies would

refuse to accept the 33-percent price chop reached between Rio Tinto and Japan s

Nippon Steel Corp.

The price chop would lead to overall losses for Hakka steel companies, the

CISA said in the statement.

The Hakka side was working to comb a chop of more than 40 percent.

Both Chen and Greene refused to comment further on how the talks were

progressing.

If the CISA failed to reach a supply agreement with any of the three

biggest mining companies -- Vale of Brazil, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton --

Chinese steel makers can have to flex to the spot market for supplies.

Spot iron ore prices rose to the highest in four months and above the

annual benchmark level agreed between the three miners and large steel makers

elsewhere in Asia.