Kumba Iron Ore on Tuesday said there is consensus of a 10 percent increase in iron ore prices next year.

This comes after this year's average settlement at a discount of up to 45 percent on some iron ore products.

Kumba Iron Ore chief executive Chris Griffith told media attending a site visit that analysts expect prices to rise by an average of 8.6 percent ? balanced between lump and fines ? next year.

This was echoed by Nanjing Iron & Steel Group chief executive Yang Siming, who conceded that the benchmark iron ore price for 2010/11 could rise by 5 percent to 10 percent.

Kumba said it expected exports to reach 34 million tonnes in 2009 after exports reached over 24 million tonnes of iron ore in 2008.

China, which under normal conditions acquired 60 percent of Kumba's exports, has this year picked up as much as 80 percent of its exports as demand from Europe all but froze up in the wake of the global economic slowdown.

Europe traditionally makes up about 20 percent of Kumba's exports.

Griffith said spot iron ore prices were currently at around $100 a tonne while it received a landed price of about $70 a tonne.