South Africa's two main lime producers, Union Lime (a division of Anglo Alpha ) and PPC Lime, have brought their two party lime agreement to an end with immediate effect. The decision was taken voluntaply by the companies concerned, with no external pressure from the government's Competitions Board. This is because, although the government has generally been opposed to cartel situations in any domestic industry, it had given a permanent exemption to the lime agreement, providing that there were no major changes in circumstance. In addition, it is not thought that the impetus for the dissolution came from the consuming industries, as most were in favour of the country's two dominant lime players working together in an ordered market. Some dissent had been recorded in the past, but no official complaints had ever been filed with the Competitions Board. Amongst consumers it was generally felt that although the system had its drawbacks, there were a number of positive points, such as security of supply.
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