Penalties surpass illegal income seized

The fines China's price regulators at various levels imposed on companies last year exceeded the illegal income seized for the first time as the government accelerated its crackdown on price fixing and anti-competitive practices.

They imposed fines of 1.58 billion yuan (US$260 million) and seized 907 million yuan of illegal income after they investigated 34,400 cases in 2013, according to the price supervision and antitrust bureau under the National Development and Reform Commission.

That's the first time in the bureau's 30-year history, its head Xu Kunlin said yesterday, adding that 849 million yuan of the fines were directly handed out by the NDRC, China's top planning agency and also one of its three antitrust watchdogs.

China has stepped up investigations into price gouging, monopolistic behavior and other wrongdoings over the past year, targeting domestic and foreign companies ranging from supermarket chains to telecommunication makers and gold jewelry retailers.

In August, the NDRC fined six milk powder makers, including Mead Johnson Nutrition, Danone and Fonterra, a record US$110 million for price fixing.

The anti-monopoly law, enacted in 2008, allows for a fine of between 1 and 10 percent of a company's revenue in China in the previous year.