- within Accounting and Audit, Consumer Protection and Real Estate and Construction topic(s)
The Competition Commission of South Africa (the "Commission") conducted coordinated dawn raids at the premises of four scrap metal purchasing companies as part of an investigation into suspected price-fixing on Friday 13 February 2026. The Commission reports that it has reasonable grounds to suspect that Scaw South Africa (Pty) Ltd, Cape Gate (Pty) Ltd, Shaurya Steel (Pty) Ltd trading as Force Steels, and Unica Iron and Steel (Pty) Ltd coordinated purchase price adjustments for shredded or processed scrap metal. The operations, authorised by a warrant from the North Gauteng (Pretoria) High Court under section 48 of the Competition Act 89 of 1998 (as amended) (the "Act"), were carried out at sites in Germiston, Nigel, Vanderbijlpark and Hammanskraal.
The case centres on allegations that the firms made price adjustment announcements of the same amount for implementation at roughly the same time. If proven, this could amount to price fixing and/or the fixing of trading conditions in contravention of section 4(1)(b)(i) of the Act. The Commission has, therefore, seized documents and electronic data for analysis. The investigation follows a complaint lodged by a third party in 2023 and a further complaint initiated by the Commissioner in February 2026.
The companies under investigation operate as buyers of shredded or processed scrap metals, which they use to produce long steel products. The sector sits squarely within the Commission's priority focus on industrial intermediary products, and the Commission has signalled that dismantling any alleged cartel behaviour in this market is intended to remove artificial barriers to entry and support participation by smaller firms and businesses owned by historically disadvantaged persons.
The Commission has emphasised that the searches are being conducted with due regard to the rights of affected persons, and that dawn raids are an investigative tool rather than a finding of wrongdoing. Whether the conduct contravenes the Act will ultimately depend on the evidence gathered and assessed in the coming months.
For businesses in adjacent value chains, this development underlines the Commission's continuing scrutiny of coordinated pricing behaviour, especially in priority input markets. Firms should ensure that their dawn raid protocols are current, that their front-line staff are trained on responding to unannounced inspections, and that they review their internal pricing governance to mitigate cartel risk while investigations in the sector progress.
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