China's iron ore prices will rise moderately backed by loosely market supply and demand, forecasted a report by Department of Market Operation Regulation under the Ministry of Commerce.

     An official of the Department of Market Operation Regulation said that indigenous iron ore output saw obvious increase spurred by attractive profit margin and the demand for iron ore experienced reductions.

     Besides, part of the steel and iron producers in north China will cut production as a result of the strict environmental protection policies.

     China's output of crude steel will maintain the current level with production capacity unlikely to be materialized. Statistics show that China produced 310 million tons of primary iron ore and imported 192 million tons of iron ore in the first five months of 2008, up 25.7 percent and 19.6 percent year on year, respectively.

     The official didn't rule out the possibility of minor price hikes in short term citing the hovering domestic iron ore prices for the time being.