China extends Iran crude import cuts into March: sources

China will reduce its crude oil imports from Iran for a third month, sources said on Monday, as the two remain divided over payment and price terms, although they plan to meet again for talks as early as this week.

China is the top buyer of Iranian oil and also the fastest expanding major oil importer, putting it in a strong position to negotiate for better terms after it more than halved imports for both January and February.

The reductions for March-loading supplies will be largely the same, if not deeper, than the previous two months, industry officials with direct knowledge of the supply situation told Reuters.

"For Marching loadings, it will be the same cuts as the previous month," said one senior trading official.

A second industry official with one of the Chinese processors of Iranian oil said: "Our Iranian volumes disappeared for the whole of first quarter."

China, which buys around 20 per cent of Iran's total crude exports, cut its January and February purchases by about 285,000 bpd, just over one half of the total average daily amount it imported in 2011.