Petrochemical companies face additional fines in South Korea for price-fixing

14-Dec-07

Seven to eight firms face additional fines for fixing prices of other products in South Korea. South Korea's Fair Trade Commission (FTC) had earlier imposed huge fines on the country's 10 major petrochemical companies for price-fixing of a couple of products earlier this year. The FTC imposed a total of 105.1 bln won (US$113.7 mln) in fines on 10 petrochemical companies including SK for profiteering by fixing prices of high density polyethylene (HDPE) and polypropylene (PP) over the past 11 years. The antitrust regulator has found evidence that proves that some petrochemical companies have colluded to fix prices of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE). The fines that have been and will be imposed on petrochemical companies are expected to be the largest ever in a single industry, since the FTC is also examining alleged price-fixing of other products. The level of punishment and the amount of fines for the latest case of price-fixing will be fixed shortly. Following the February case of HDPE and PP, the FTC has been probing the alleged price-fixing in six other products such as toluene-xylene, styrene monomer, ethylene glycol and ethylene oxide as well as LDPE and LLDP in the past months. Additionally, it is possible that the FTC investigation will continue through next year.