An international steel seminar was kicked off Tuesday in eastern China's Shandong Province, with the bargaining of iron ore price in the world market for 2006 to be a main topic.

Senior officials with the world's iron ore giants, including the CVRD from Brazil, Australian BHP and RioTinto that jointly provide 70 percent of the raw material in the world market, participated in the seminar held in the port city of Qingdao.

Delegates from Chinese, Japanese, European and US steel and iron giants were also present at the seminar.

The seminar marks the start of the bargaining of the world iron ore price for the next year, said Luo Bingsheng, deputy president with China Iron and Steel Association.

Some experts said the bargaining is set to be a difficult process since some world giants insist on a continuous price increase but others demand a reasonable price drop from the current 71.5 percent hiking.

(Xinhua News Agency October 26, 2005)