Worldsteel calls on competition authorities to examine Rio Tinto-BHP Billiton JV

Speaking on behalf of steel producers worldwide, worldsteel director general Ian Christmas said, "The recently signed binding agreement between Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton is not materially different from the proposal issued earlier this year. It still carries a great danger of restricting competition, thus reducing consumers' choice as it would create an entity whose controlling position in the world's seaborne iron ore market would become even less fair than the unsatisfactory position that exists today. The proposed JV would simply turn an oligopoly of three players into a duopoly."

As SteelOrbis previously reported, in order to avoid regulatory restrictions, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton revised the scope of their original agreement, deciding to market iron ore from the new joint venture separately.

Mr. Christmas went on to say: "Competition makes a market strong and brings efficiency. Competition between steel companies has made the global steel market healthier and brought benefits for steel customers. As a result, this has promoted growth in steel use which serves society as a whole. We view this revised proposed JV as potentially extremely harmful to the market, and we call for a very careful review by all the relevant competition authorities."