Mr Marius Kloppers CEO of BHP Billiton said that BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto would have only a modest share of world iron ore markets if a proposed mega merger between the resources giants went ahead.

As competition regulators in Europe and Australia scrutinize BHP's hostile USD 147 billion takeover bid for Rio, Mr Kloppers sought to ease concerns it would create a behemoth capable of controlling global iron ore supply.

He said that a combined entity would control about 25% of the world iron ore market and around 20% of iron ore consumed in China, one of the major critics of the proposed deal.

Mr Kloppers told Sky News Australia that "Clearly we would like to grow that market share by producing more product, but in commodity market terms these are relatively modest market shares.”