Ready-mix Concrete Industry Colluded on Prices and Quantities for 8 Years... Fined 13.1 Billion Won

Fair Trade Commission imposes fines totaling 13.138 billion KRW on 19 ready-mixed concrete companies

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Lee Jun-hyung] Nineteen ready-mixed concrete (remicon) companies, including Yujin Corporation and Sampyo Industry, have been sanctioned by the Fair Trade Commission for colluding on prices and quantities over eight years.

The Fair Trade Commission announced on the 10th that it imposed corrective orders and fines totaling 13.138 billion KRW on remicon companies in Goyang and Paju, Gyeonggi Province, that colluded on prices and quantities from 2013 to 2021. This is the second-largest fine ever imposed in a civilian remicon collusion case.

The remicon companies sanctioned by the Fair Trade Commission include 19 firms such as Yujin Corporation, Sampyo Industry, and Seongsin Cement. The Commission found that these companies, which hold over 80% market share in Goyang and Paju, violated the Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act by colluding on prices and quantities and dividing sales territories over eight years.

These companies formed meetings such as representatives' gatherings and sales team leaders' meetings around March 2013 when competition intensified in the Goyang and Paju areas, causing remicon prices to fall. The meetings discussed specific price levels and quantity allocation plans and carried out collusion.

Specifically, sales team leaders formed monitoring teams to inspect competitors' factories and regularly shared each company's remicon shipment prices and volumes to facilitate price collusion. Quantity collusion was conducted by mutually settling differences between actual sales volumes and pre-agreed allocated quantities for each company.

Status of Ready-Mix Concrete Operators Involved in Regional Collusion.
[Photo by Korea Fair Trade Commission]

Among the sanctioned companies, five firms including Shinseong Concrete Industry, Yujin Corporation, and Sampyo Industry agreed to set remicon delivery prices in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, and Eunpyeong-gu, Seoul, at 80% to 85% of the standard price. They also allocated remicon supply volumes to demand sources based on each company's previous year's supply volume and market share.

Furthermore, 17 companies including Shinseong Concrete Industry and Wooshin Remicon agreed to set remicon delivery prices in the Paju area at 78% to 95% of the standard price. They also agreed not to supply remicon to demand sources in competitor regions where they do not have factories.

A Fair Trade Commission official stated, "We will continue to strengthen monitoring of collusion in intermediate goods with significant ripple effects across upstream and downstream industries such as construction raw materials. For items and industries prone to frequent collusion like remicon, we will actively promote legal compliance in close cooperation with organizations such as the Korea Federation of SMEs."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.