As BHP Billiton Ltd changed the quarterly pricing of iron ore to monthly, the annual iron ore price talks would be "unnecessary", Luo Bingsheng, former vice-chairman of the China Iron & Steel Association (CISA) said.

BHP Billiton has also raised the iron ore off-shore price from $155 per ton to $168 per ton, without consulting Chinese steel mills beforehand, the Shanghai Securities News reported Thursday, citing Luo. Chinese steel enterprises had to accept the price, he added.

BHP Billiton's chief executive officer, who had been scheduled to attend the pricing talks, also failed to show up, despite efforts by the Chinese side for two months, the paper said.

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Data from the CISA showed that China paid an extra $30 billion on imports of 618 million tons of iron ore in 2010, due to price increases that averaged $48.51 per ton. Luo said the surge in the international iron ore price had resulted in low profit margin of the Chinese iron industry last year.

Luo said that China must cut its dependence on imported iron ore. Data shows that the total amount of overseas iron ore in which Chinese enterprises have invested or hold shares has reached 150 million tons, accounting for 30 percent of the imported amount. China's dependence on the imported iron ore may decline as the amounts of overseas and domestic iron ore are increasing, he said.

Luo also predicted that Iron ore supply is likely to meet demand in the next two to three years, and sellers and buyers can then "sit down and talk" about the issue.