Chinese mills agree to 33 pct iron ore price cut-sources

BEIJING, July 15 (Reuters) - Rio Tinto (RIO.L) and BHP Billiton (BHP.AX) have secured agreement from Chinese steel mills to a 33 percent price cut in iron ore, three separate sources with knowledge of the situation said, effectively winning a long-running pricing battle that has become subsumed in a spying row between China and Australia.

The sources, including people on both sides of the negotiations, said some mills had agreed to a 6 month contract and some a year, but there would be no formal announcement by the China Iron & Steel Association (CISA).

CISA officials were not immediately available to comment.

(Reporting by Tom Miles; Editing by Jonathan Hopfner)