A new set of compromise numbers has been circulated at the World Trade Organisation ministerial meeting in Geneva, but again they have failed to find the breakthrough agreement Australian agriculture is hoping for.

According to the WTO all speakers said it would be painful to accept the new proposal, but several countries said members should do so nonetheless.

The new numbers are proposed compromises on a handful of major issues in the agriculture and industrial products negotiations.

They are the result of weekend discussions, first among a group of seven ministers and then the larger representative group of about 30 ministers (the so-called Green Room).

"The package will remain on the table as a contribution toward our work," WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy said.

"But as you will recognise, this is by no means the full picture of our task.

"There remain many elements not in this package which are dear to many of you and therefore need to be tackled urgently in order to find the overall political balance.

"This is necessary because as I have said to you, there is no such thing as partial modalities."

'Modalities' is the term used to describe the blueprint agreements in agriculture and non-agricultural market access, including formulas for cutting tariffs and agricultural subsidies, which will then be applied to individual products and support programmes.

The new figures include proposed compromises on key agricultural issues members have been discussing over the past few days:

* the US and EU cuts in overall trade-distorting domestic support, cuts in developed countries' highest tariffs;

* maximum tariffs for developed countries' non-sensitive products, how many sensitive products (which would be shielded from the full force of tariff cuts) and the size of quotas with lower tariffs for these products;

* developing countries' special products (which would also be shielded from tariff cuts but without quotas), including how many, the size of the cuts and whether some would escape cuts completely;