South Korea?s antitrust watchdog has fined six local cement makers a combined $168m for fixing the prices of cement products and divvying up the market, according to Dow Jones.
According to the Fair Trade Com?mission (FTC), cement companies have allegedly colluded to rig the prices of cement products by controlling output and market share in 2011. The suspected companies are Ssangyong Cement Industry Co., Tongyang Cement & Energy Corp., Hanil Cement Co., Sungshin Cement Co., Hyundai Cement Co. and Asia Cement Co. Ssangyong was set to take 22.9 per cent of the total market share, while Tongyang and Hanil were in charge of 15.1 per cent and 14.9 per cent, respectively. "Managers of the six companies had regular monthly meetings to oversee whether or not the members had complied with the arranged shipments," said the FTC. The prices of cements surged by 43% year-on-year in April 2012.
Industry leader Ssangyong was slapped with $73.6m of fines, followed by Hanil with $34.5m.