Price-fixing fine for 3 cement firms

China's price regulator has fined three cement makers from Jilin Province 114.39 million yuan (US$18.64 million) for price fixing, the National Development and Reform Commission said in a statement on its website yesterday.

The fine was imposed on Jilin Yatai Cement Sales Co, China United Cement Co (CUCC) and Tangshan Jidong (Jilin) Cement Co.

Based on the companies' level of cooperation with the NDRC investigations, CUCC was fined 1 percent of its turnover in 2012 — or 40.97 million yuan — while Jilin Yatai and Tangshan Jidong were fined 60.04 million yuan and 13.38 million yuan respectively — or 2 percent of their turnover in 2012.

The NDRC, China's top economic planner, started the investigation into price fixing of cement in March 2013.

The three companies fixed the factory price at 300 yuan per ton at a meeting on April 14, 2011, the NDRC said. The meeting also decided to raise the prices of three cement products from April 16, 2011, by 10-20 yuan per ton in cities including Changchun, Songyuan and Panshi in the province.

The NDRC said Jilin Yatai and CUCC decided to fix prices of three cement products in Tonghua and Baishan, also in the province, from May 12, 2011.

China's anti-monopoly law defines the acts of the three companies as curbing normal market competition, which has damaged the interests of other companies and consumers.

Last week, an insurance association and 23 insurers in Zhejiang Province had been fined a total of 110 million yuan for price fixing.