On December 8, the European Confederation of Iron and Steel Industries (EUROFER) released a statement on behalf of the European steel industry, emphasizing its strong reservations regarding the joint venture agreement lately signed by iron ore mining giants BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto.
"The joint venture which has been agreed by BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto will combine their production and infrastructure facilities and will unavoidably lead to market concentration and an increase in pricing power of the combined company which is unacceptable in competition terms," said EUROFER director general Gordon Moffat. "We believe that this is a full-function joint venture which will not be different from the full merger attempted last year. It must be fully examined by the European competition authorities," reads the statement.
As SteelOrbis previously reported, in mid-November EUROFER had asked the European Commission (EC) to block the joint venture in question since it would result in higher prices in Europe.
Since the initial announcement of the joint venture between Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton, steel associations across the world have expressed their strong opposition.