BEIJING, April 28 (Reuters) - China's steel makers and global miners have agreed to cut term iron ore prices sharply, but are still locked in talks on the scope of the price cuts, an industry body said on Tuesday. Luo Bingsheng, deputy head of the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA), told reporters that parties had agreed to cut iron prices for supplies under the new annual deal.

 

"The two parties have agreed that (iron ore) prices should fall sharply. The focus now is the size of the price cut and that should be further discussed," Luo said.

 

He added that Chinese ports had in stock 70 million tonnes of imported iron ore currently, compared with normal warehouse inventories of 30 million tonnes.

 

Luo also said that CISA had suggested taking measures to control production in Chinese small- and medium-sized steel mills, as China's crude steel output had exceeded demand in the first quarter due to rapid production increases in spite of production cuts at major steel mills.