ZF.RO reported that the Romanian Competition Council has launched a probe into the Romanian business ArcelorMittal, which owns several steel plants in the country, because of a potential economic concentration and exercising of a dominant position over Comvex Constanta.

Mr Bogdan Chiritoiu chairman of Competition Council said that "If ArcelorMittal Galati is found to have conducted an economic concentration operation without notifying the Competition Council, it is liable for penalty for failure to notify, which may reach as much as 1% of turnover."

ArcelorMittal has recently decided to stop working with Comvex, held by two businessmen in Constanta, preferring to have its raw material shipped through a harbor in Bulgaria.

The decision was fiercely criticized by representatives of the National Maritime Harbor Management Company, National Navigable Channel Management Company and Comvex, all of them based in Constanta, which accused ArcelorMittal of dealing an unfair blow to the local companies that were dependent on it.

ArcelorMittal used to contribute over 50% of Comvex’s business, which stood at EUR 41.3 million and the ArcelorMittal plant in Galati accounted for about 58% of the traffic on the Danube Black Sea Canal.

ArcelorMittal Galati sold 794,000 tonnes of steel in the first half of 2009, down by 56.1% YoY.

(Sourced from www.zf.ro)