Watchdog fines 4 major dairy companies for price rigging

SEOUL (Yonhap) - South Korea's antitrust watchdog said Sunday that it has fined four dairy companies a combined 10.6 billion won (US$9.8 million) for fixing prices of cheese products.
The move comes as the Seoul government is beefing up its crackdown on price fixing and other unwarranted price hikes by consumer product makers as part of efforts to fight rising inflation driven by high food costs.
Seoul Milk, Maeil Dairies Co., Namyang Dairy Products Co. and Dongwon Dairy Foods were subject to the penalties for competition-hampering activities, the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said.
The FTC accused them of having colluded in fixing prices of cheese products used in pizza restaurants from 2007-08 after holding a secret meeting.
The four companies held another covert meeting in 2007 in which they agreed to hike prices of household cheese products the following year, the FTC said.
Seoul Milk was slapped with the largest fine, 3.59 billion won. Maeil Dairies was ordered to pay 3.46 billion won, followed by Namyang Dairy Products and Dongwon Dairy Foods with 2.25 billion won and 1.31 billion won, respectively.
The watchdog noted that the four companies command a combined 95 percent of the domestic cheese market.