Japanese PVC firms raided on price fixing allegation

10 July 2007 11:50  [Source: ICIS news]

TOKYO (ICIS news)--The Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) has raided three Japanese chemical firms on suspicion of forming a price cartel for polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipes, an JTFC official said on Tuesday.

The companies raided were Sekisui Chemical, Mitsubishi Plastics and Kubota CI.

According to the official, the three companies are suspected of having formed a cartel when they raised the price of PVC pipes by 10%.

The companies are also suspected of having previously negotiated when they raised the price, which is a violation of the anti-monopoly act.

He said even though it was a known fact that there was a price hike, the commission has yet to investigate when and why the price was raised, and if it was a cartel.

He added that investigations usually take about nine months.

The JFTC would consider filing criminal complaints against the three firms if they turned out to have violated the anti-monopoly act, the official said.

The size of the domestic PVC pipe market is said to be Y180bn/year ($1.46bn/year), making this one of the biggest scales of cases JTFC has investigated, he said.

If the companies were found guilty, they would be required to pay a surcharge, the official added.

The three companies were fined a total of yen (Y) 322.5m in late June by JFTC for having formed a price cartel for polyethylene (PE) gas pipes.

($1 = Y123)

By: Tomomi Yokomura
+65 6780 4359

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