Rio Tinto Ltd, Brazil's Vale and Fortescue Metals Group Ltd have each cut annual production of iron ore by ten per cent after a slowdown in Chinese demand.
BHP Billiton said it had received requests to defer up to five per cent, or six million tonnes of annual iron ore output from its operations in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.
"It is important to note we are not cutting production," BHP Billiton spokesman Peter Ogden told reporters on Monday.
"The only reason to cut production is if we either can't sell what we produce or we are losing money and neither is the case."
Expansion plans, mining and processing operations industry-wide have come under pressure because of falling commodity prices and softening demand amid deteriorating global financial markets.
Steel companies worldwide have initiated a significant cut to production amid the global financial crisis leading to a weakening demand for iron ore, a key steel-making ingredient.
Ogden said the company was working with its customers to try and reduce the deferrals.
BHP Billiton expects to produce about 137 million tonnes of iron ore from its WA mines in 2008/09, up from 122 million tonnes in the previous corresponding period.
Mount Gibson Iron Ltd has been forced to sell its iron ore at a significant discount and will cut a third of its workforce after some of its customers defaulted on binding offtake agreements last month.
Goldman Sachs JBWere analysts led by Neil Goodwill have forecast a 15 per cent drop in iron ore prices next year amid the "negative steel environment".
