Six Japanese firms, including Kobe Steel Ltd (5406.T) and Showa Denko (4004.T), have decided to quit aluminum smelting operations in Venezuela due to a dispute over prices with the Venezuelan government, their joint venture partner, the Nikkei business daily reported.

They should have just quietly packed up and left with no notice or communication to their "partner". With "partners" like that...who needs competitors? What goes around comes around.