ArcelorMittal, the world’s biggest steelmaker, and Voestalpine AG were among 17 producers fined a total of 518.5 million euro ($637 million) by the European Union for fixing prices of a type of steel used in concrete. The European Commission, the 27-nation EU’s anti-trust regulator, said the companies, including a unit of Russian steelmaker OAO Severstal colluded on prices of prestressing steel. Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal got the biggest fine of 276.5 million euro.
“It is amazing how such a significant number of companies abused nearly the entire European construction market for such a long time and for such a vital product,” said Joaquin Almunia, the EU’s antitrust commissioner, in a statement.“This was almost as if they were acting in a planned economy.”
European steelmakers, recovering from the worst crisis in 60 years, face slowing orders from the construction industry and automakers as the regional debt crisis and rollbacks in state spending cut demand. Companies are also attempting to increase prices as they look to pass on surging raw material costs following the collapse of a four-decade-old system that fixed iron ore prices annually.
Voestalpine, Austria’s biggest steelmaker, was fined 22 million euros and Finland’s Rautaruukki Oyj was asked to pay 4.7 million euros. Italian company Redaelli Tecna SpA, a unit of Severstal’s wire-making subsidiary Severstal Metiz since July 2008, was fined 6.3 million euro. Natalia Ivanova, a spokeswoman for Severstal in Moscow, said she couldn’t immediately comment.
Voestalpine said on Wednesday it will appeal the fine, adding that it “has never been involved in the prestressing steel cartel.”
Jean Lasar, a Luxembourg-based spokesman for ArcelorMittal, said the company will “review the decision in detail and respond within the time limits provided.”
Rautaruukki “will examine the grounds for the Commission decision and evaluate any further action warranted,” the company said in a statement today. The fines concern a former unit, it said.
The commission, which has already imposed 1.5 billion euros in cartel fines this year, said it reduced the penalties for three steelmakers who claimed they couldn’t pay the full amount.
While the EU will have “no sympathy” for cartelists, “inability-to-pay claims will be accepted only when it is clear the fine would send the company into bankruptcy, which is rare even in the current difficult times,” said Almunia. The commission considers a company’s sales in the last year before a cartel ends, the seriousness, duration and geographic scope of the cartel when setting its fines.
“It is amazing how such a significant number of companies abused nearly the entire European construction market for such a long time and for such a vital product,” said Joaquin Almunia, the EU’s antitrust commissioner, in a statement.“This was almost as if they were acting in a planned economy.”
European steelmakers, recovering from the worst crisis in 60 years, face slowing orders from the construction industry and automakers as the regional debt crisis and rollbacks in state spending cut demand. Companies are also attempting to increase prices as they look to pass on surging raw material costs following the collapse of a four-decade-old system that fixed iron ore prices annually.
Voestalpine, Austria’s biggest steelmaker, was fined 22 million euros and Finland’s Rautaruukki Oyj was asked to pay 4.7 million euros. Italian company Redaelli Tecna SpA, a unit of Severstal’s wire-making subsidiary Severstal Metiz since July 2008, was fined 6.3 million euro. Natalia Ivanova, a spokeswoman for Severstal in Moscow, said she couldn’t immediately comment.
Voestalpine said on Wednesday it will appeal the fine, adding that it “has never been involved in the prestressing steel cartel.”
Jean Lasar, a Luxembourg-based spokesman for ArcelorMittal, said the company will “review the decision in detail and respond within the time limits provided.”
Rautaruukki “will examine the grounds for the Commission decision and evaluate any further action warranted,” the company said in a statement today. The fines concern a former unit, it said.
The commission, which has already imposed 1.5 billion euros in cartel fines this year, said it reduced the penalties for three steelmakers who claimed they couldn’t pay the full amount.
While the EU will have “no sympathy” for cartelists, “inability-to-pay claims will be accepted only when it is clear the fine would send the company into bankruptcy, which is rare even in the current difficult times,” said Almunia. The commission considers a company’s sales in the last year before a cartel ends, the seriousness, duration and geographic scope of the cartel when setting its fines.
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