BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Vale are working on lowering the production costs in order to strengthen their dominance in iron ore markets. Australian mining giant BHP Billiton has produced 225 million tons by the end of June of the year, 4% more than their expectation.

Rio Tinto produced 75.7 million tons in the second quarter, increased by 23 percent tons compared with the same period last year. According to quarterly report released in July 16 2014, the company’s output is also expected to grow and reached 295 million tons.

The world's largest iron ore producer CVRD had broken the record by up 12.6 percent to 79.45 million tons in the second quarter. The company plans to raise the annual production to 450 million tons by 2018 from 306 million tons in 2013.

All the three companies are expanding production in order to take more market share in global market, while the iron ore price is not so strong. Given their low cost and large economic scales, they can still able to achieved strong profit growth.