China's largest steel maker Baosteel said Thursday it is still in iron ore price talks, denying a report it had walked out of negotiations over the price demanded by ore producers.

"The negotiation is still going on. It hasn't stopped," a company official told AFP. Baosteel is leading Chinese mills in the talks.

The Australian Financial Review reported Wednesday on its website that Baosteel had left the negotiating table, blaming high prices asked by miners.
The official, who declined to be named, did not provide any more detail.

The world's three largest miners -- Anglo-Australian groups BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto as well as Brazil's CVRD -- were supposed to hammer out annual contract prices for iron ore with a Chinese representative.

In 2006, China was the world's first major steel producer to settle with the three mining firms, agreeing to a relatively modest hike of 9.5 percent for the year starting April 2007.

That followed a 19 percent rise in 2006 and a 71.5 percent spike in 2005.

Analysts have said they expect Chinese steelmakers to pay a significantly higher pricer for iron ore from April 1 this year. Estimates of the increase range from 35 percent to more than 100 percent.