The German Federal Cartel Office (FCO) announced that it will prohibit the anticipated joint venture of BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto in western Australia. Deemed an intolerable market concentration that would limit the competition in the seaborne iron ore market even further, the proposed iron ore venture was opposed by EUROFER at the EU and German level. With three companies dominating the market (Vale, BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto) a JV would significantly reduce the buyers’ choice of supplier, and essentially leave two companies in control of the global iron ore market. Together the three companies control 70 % of the seaborne iron ore market. Both the competition authorities of South Korea and the Japanese Fair Trade Commission objected to the proposed JV.
