Mr Gordon Moffat director general of EUROFER said yesterday that "Today's announcement by BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto to give up their plans for a JV or their iron ore assets in Western Australia is a victory for competition in the international raw materials market

Mr Moffat said that "We very much welcome in particular the efforts made by the European Commission and German cartel authorities who have once again demonstrated their competence and authority in competition questions."

EUROFER fought successfully already in 2007 and 2008 the previously proposed merger between the two mining giants and now sees confirmation of its view that the JV would materially not be much different from the original proposal of a full merger.

The signals from the German authorities, the European Commission, the Australian, Japanese and South Korean authorities to prohibit the JV demonstrate clearly that they share our view that the degree of concentration in the seaborne iron ore market is already very high.