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Chinese steel mills have decided to continue negotiations over the price of iron ore with major foreign miners, the China Iron and Steel Association (ISA) said Tuesday to the denial of reports that Chinese steelmakers will accept a 19-percent rise in contract prices.

"We will continue price talks with miners in June," a reliable source with the ISA who declined to be named told Xinhua.

"We do not accept the price increase," he noted.

Chinese steel mills made the decision at a recent national meeting after the world's leading iron ore provider, Brazil's Companhia Vale do Rio Doc (CVRD), and German steel producer ThyssenKrupp AG agreed May 16 on the 19-percent increase in contract prices of iron ore.

Chinese steel mills are resolved to continue talks although some of their foreign counterparts have agreed to the price hike, the source said.

They rejected to reply to confirm letters on the price rise by the CVRD, citing that "the talks over price is not concluded yet,"he said.

They hope to secure a lower price rise after being forced to accept a 71.5 percent hike in the iron ore price last year, he said.

So far, Chinese steel mills have not reached an agreement with the world's three largest iron ore suppliers, including Anglo-Australian miner BHP Billiton, Australia's Rio Tinto Group and Brazil's CVRD.

The ISA said earlier that setting the iron ore price without considering the market of China, the world's biggest buyer of ironore, is unacceptable.