"Shifting"

...is a nice way to put it.

Last night there were even rumours of a coup in Beijing. Que the circus music.

BHP Billiton (BHP.AX), the world's biggest miner, said it was seeing signs of "flattening" iron ore demand from China, though for now it was pushing ahead with ambitious plans to expand production.

Rival Rio Tinto (RIO.AX) said it too was sticking with plans to raise capacity from its huge mines in Western Australia's Pilbara iron ore belt, betting on a soft landing for the Chinese economy.

"The (Chinese) economy is shifting, it's changing. Steel growth rates will flatten and they have flattened," Ian Ashby, president of BHP's iron ore division, said ahead of the Global Iron Ore & Steel Forecast Conference in Perth.