Three domestic cement monopolies were fined $114 million
Yatai cement, northern cement and yittung cement (8. 82,0. 06, 0. 68 per cent) met frequently to agree on prices for the sale of cement
The shinjing news service (journalist zhao jiani) has issued anti-monopoly tickets to the national reform commission. Yesterday, on the cdrc website, it was reported that three cement enterprises belonging to the guilin yatai group (4. 41, 0. 11, 2. 56 per cent) cement sales ltd., north cement ltd. And yidong cement limited ltd. Were fined a total of $114. 9 million for price monopolies。
Still horizontal price monopoly
The national commission for development and development stated that yatai cement, northern cement and yutung cement agreed on prices for the sale of cement by means of frequent meetings and, in doing so, implemented the prices agreed in the conference resolution and reached and implemented a price monopoly agreement, in violation of the provisions of our antimonopoly act, excluding and limiting competition in the market, controlling prices for the sale of cement and damaging downstream industries and consumers。
Since march 2013, it has been known that the national commission for the supervision of prices and the antimonopoly service have organized antimonopoly investigations into price monopolies in some local cement industries. Following an investigation, on 14 april 2011, a meeting was held between northern companies and yatai and zhidong companies, which resulted in a resolution on a regional price-setting conference for key cement enterprises in jilin province, which agreed to sell the clinker at a price of $300 per ton and to enter the liaoning region at a price of not less than $300 per ton. Since then, similar meetings have been held between northern and asian companies。
According to cdrc, given the excess capacity of cement in our country, the three companies mentioned above have not been able to reach and implement a price monopoly agreement for long periods of time, and the damage to market competition has been limited to a limited regional scope. As a result, atai and iodong, which did not cooperate actively in the investigation, were fined 2 per cent of their sales in 2012, at $6. 04 million and $1. 338 million respectively. Northern companies that are able to cooperate with the investigation and actively overhaul are fined 1 per cent of their sales in 2012 at $4. 09 million。
In response to the ticket, the yatai group issued a public announcement last night that the company's controlling shareholder, guilin yatai group cement sales ltd., had received a ticket today from the jilin prices authority's decision on administrative punishment, and that the company was operating normally. As of 19 p. M. Last night, zhou dong cement had not issued an announcement, and the journalist had called the representative of east cement security yesterday afternoon. Furthermore, journalists were unable to contact the northern cement-related officials yesterday。
Counsel claims a low rate of fines
The penalty remains a horizontal price monopoly between industry counterparts, the same as the two previous penalties (insurance, auto parts)。
It is not difficult to find in the bulletin that the cdrc did not mention companies that had voluntarily reported, so that there were no “exonerated” companies that had been awarded “exonerated” for the “principle of forgiveness”. At the same time, the fine was 1 per cent and 2 per cent, which is lower than the previously issued ticket。
In response, the antimonopoly professional lawyer, dan zhixon, a partner of dae cheng law firm, stated to the reporter, that under our antimonopoly act a fine of between 1 and 10 per cent of the sales of the previous year was imposed, and that law enforcement agencies had the discretion to choose the percentage of the final penalty, depending on the specific nature of the offence, time, circumstances, etc。
Last month, the commission issued tickets to 12 japanese car parts and bearings, with penalties of 4 per cent and 6 per cent. According to deng zhismon, japanese automobile parts and components have a monopoly for more than a decade, which is significantly longer than the cement industry mentioned above, and the penalties are therefore heavier。
Analysis
The company's "crowd-heating" submersible was warned
At the beginning of may this year, the ministry of industry and communications tasked itself with phasing out behind and overcapacity in 2014, of which 500,000 tons were cement. Compared to this year's target set in the government's report of march this year, the cement sector has experienced a significant increase of 8. 5 million tons. In its analysis, dr. Chen ho-wu (9. 25, -0. 08, -0. 86 per cent), a researcher, also reported that three quarters were the traditional hot season of cement in the north, but that the north was mired in overcapacity and was unable to reverse supply and demand patterns in the short term。
Information on tickets indicates that most of the areas in which the three companies were fined are concentrated in the north-east. According to the grand public international trust report, the main cement production enterprises in the three north-eastern governorates are jilinyatai (group) inc., yidong cement and north cement ltd. The combined market share of the three enterprises in the north-east is over 80 per cent。
According to the financial report, the net profit of the asian-tai group in 2013 was $218 million, and the fine represented 27. 5 per cent of the net profit last year. This fine represented 3. 9 per cent of last year's net profits。
Luning, an information and cement industry analyst, said to the new kyoto press that, in addition to affecting profits, the fine would affect the reputation of the company. For the industry, the fine or a certain warning effect for cement enterprises in other regions is due to the existence of a sub-rule of “heating in groups” in the cement industry. The ticket would not have had a substantial impact on the entire cement market if the commission had not imposed further penalties on cement enterprises in other regions. Gianni cho
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Cda officials say antimonopoly enforcement is not the same
According to a recent media contribution by the director of the price surveillance and antimonopoly bureau of the national development reform commission, xu quinlin, it is true that some of the antimonopoly cases currently being investigated by the commission involve foreign enterprises, but cannot be considered to be antimonopoly enforcement only for foreign enterprises. The equal treatment of all market subjects is the spirit of the antimonopoly act and the principle consistently upheld by law enforcement. Enforcement is based only on monopolistic behaviour, regardless of the nature of the subject matter, as long as price monopolies are carried out, with the aim of maintaining a level playing field market order that does not differ according to the nature of the enterprise。
Previously, the commission issued anti-monopoly fines of over $1. 2 billion for foreign-owned enterprises in the automobile industry。
Related
Anti-monopoly next step or check the medical industry
Recently, antimonopoly actions have been carried out in sectors such as the ministry of commerce, the national development and reform commission and the national directorate of commerce and industry. Recent information indicates that related industries such as semiconductors and medical devices will be the target of new antimonopoly reviews。
According to the ministry of commerce's website, from 1 to 3 september, deputy director-general zheng wen of the antimonopoly department of the ministry of commerce took a team to shanghai to conduct research. “in-depth knowledge of market competition in related industries such as semiconductors and medical devices will be obtained through field visits to enterprises and seminars.”
From last year to date, antimonopoly investigations led by the national commission for the advancement of women have continued and have covered various industries such as cars, glasses, liquid crystal panels, dairy products and white wine。
Responsible editor: zhang dei
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