Ben Jacobs reaches settlement with South Africa’s Competition Commission

South Africa’s Competition Tribunal has confirmed that a settlement has been reached between the South Africa-based scrap metal company Ben Jacobs Iron and Steel and the country’s Competition Commission over allegations that the company participated in a number of schedules with a number of scrap metal processors and consumers to set prices and create an anti-competitive environment for the metals industry in the country.

The investigation began around 10 years ago and at one time included more than a half dozen metals-related companies.

In its report, the Competition Commission found that the companies were conducting meetings and discussions that resulted in agreements, arrangement and understandings related to the allocation of scrap metal in times of shortages, the selling prices of scrap metal to steel mills and discounts that would be applied to selling prices for the different metals.

As part of the settlement, Ben Jacobs Iron has agreed to pay an administrative penalty of 2,995,922 rand ($221,000), which consists of about 5% of Ben Jacobs’ total annual turnover for ferrous scrap for the financial year ended 30 June 2006.

According to one source Ben Jacobs was the last company to settle with the Competition Commission.