The Commerce Commission says it found no evidence that Fletcher Building's Winstone Wallboards unit engaged in anti-competitive behaviour to protect its dominant position in the plasterboard market.
Fletcher, the biggest building products and construction company in New Zealand, dominates the plasterboard market with its GIB brand products. This year Knauf, the world's second-largest plasterboard maker, revealed it had struggled to gain traction in the New Zealand market, saying it had taken longer than expected to get approval for its products from BRANZ and faced resistance getting its products into stores, which had established relationships with Fletcher.
The commission, which began its probe last year, said it looked into three areas of activity by Winstone - alleged exclusive agreements with merchants, the rebates it pays merchants and an alleged practice of undercutting other plasterboard suppliers on jobs.
"Winstone's supply contracts with merchants do not contain contractual provisions that require the merchants to purchase all their plasterboard from Winstone," said commission chairman Mark Berry.
"Nor do we believe that the rebates Winstone pays to merchants result in merchants purchasing nearly all of their plasterboard from Winstone."
