December 03, 2008

SA Competition Commission imposed fine on New Reclamation Group

Business Day reported that the South African Competition Commission had imposed a ZAR 146 million fine on scrap metal company New Reclamation Group for its involvement in collusion and price fixing in the ferrous and non ferrous scrap metal markets.

Mr Thulani Kunene deputy commissioner Competition Commission said that the company was found to have contravened the Competition Act by agreeing to fix prices with its competitors for the supply of ferrous metal and to have fixed prices with its competitors for the purchase of non-ferrous scrap metal.

He added that t was also found to have entered into exclusive agreements and other arrangements with competitors to divide markets by allocating territories and customers to be supplied with ferrous and non ferrous metals.

Mr Kunene said that "We need to implement harsher penalties because, despite the Competition Act having been in operation since 1998, we still have a lot of cartels operating in the economy. This tells us that the penalties we imposed previously may not have had the desired deterrent effect.”