Hyundai Steel, 10 other South Korean steelmakers fined for price fixing

On August 11, South Korea’s antitrust regulator said it had decided to impose a fine of 256.5 billion won (about 197.5 million U.S. dollars) on Hyundai Steel and 10 other domestic steel companies. Among them, Hyundai Steel will be fined 86.6 billion won (about 64.28 million U.S. dollars) and Dongguk Steel will be fined 46.2 billion won (about 34.3 million U.S. dollars).

The Korea Fair Trade Commission said that Hyundai Steel, Dongguk Steel and nine other companies colluded to privately collude to determine the price from 2012 to 2018 to bid for the steel bar contract proposed by the National Procurement Bureau. This enabled them to realize 5.5 trillion won (about 40.827 billion U.S. dollars) in revenue during the above period.

The Korea Fair Trade Commission also asked the antitrust regulator to investigate the collusion of seven of the steel companies and nine of their former and current officials. South Korea’s antitrust regulator said it would pay close attention to possible price manipulation in the raw materials and intermediate products market and take severe punishment measures for violations.