Was There Collusion in Processed Food Price Hikes? Fair Trade Commission Conducts On-Site Investigation of Nongshim and Others

Yonhap News

As food companies have recently been raising prices one after another, the Fair Trade Commission has launched an investigation into suspicions of price collusion.

According to the industry on the 14th, the Fair Trade Commission sent investigators to the headquarters of five food companies?Nongshim, Orion, Lotte Wellfood, Crown Confectionery, and Haitai?to secure data related to food price increases.

The Fair Trade Commission is examining whether these companies colluded to raise prices together during the process of increasing the wholesale prices of processed foods.

According to Statistics Korea, the processed food price inflation rate last month was 3.6%, marking the largest increase in one year and three months since December 2023 (4.2%). The rise was mainly seen in kimchi, coffee, bread, ham, and bacon, which recently had wholesale price hikes. The consumer price inflation rate also recorded a rise in the 2% range for the third consecutive month.

Regarding this, Fair Trade Commission Chairman Han Ki-jung instructed at a recent expanded executive meeting to "thoroughly monitor whether there are any acts stemming from collusion or unfair practices."

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