The European Commission on Tuesday blocked a merger between Tata Steel and ThyssenKrupp, saying it would have raised prices for some products, while remedies proposed by the companies failed to address competition concerns.

In a statement, Margrethe Vestager, the EU's antitrust chief, said European companies depend on competitive steel prices to sell products globally.

"Without remedies addressing our serious competition concerns, the merger between Tata Steel and ThyssenKrupp would have resulted in higher prices," she said. "So we prohibited the merger to avoid serious harm to European industrial customers and consumers."

German steelmaker ThyssenKrupp and Tata Steel, part of the Indian conglomerate Tata, are respectively the second- and third-largest makers of flat carbon steel in the European Economic Area. Both are significant producers of metallic coated and laminated steel used for packaging applications and of galvanised flat carbon steel used by the automotive industry.

The commission was concerned that the merger would lead to a reduced choice of suppliers and higher prices for these types of steel.

The decision followed the opening in October 2018 of an in-depth investigation into the merger after the companies notified the commission of their plan.

During the investigation, the commission received feedback from a large number of steel buyers in the packaging and automotive industries, saying they were worried that the transaction would result in higher prices.

The commission found that the remedies offered by the companies failed to address concerns about the effects of the loss of a competitor in the relevant product markets.