Romania's Competition Council announced on January 9 that it found that the country's three major cement producers, Holcim Romania, Romcim, and Heidelberg Materials, were responsible for price collusion and decided fines in a total amount of RON 217 million (nearly EUR 44 million).

Holcim, which has to pay the largest part of the total fine (EUR 18.2 million), announced in a press release that it will appeal the fine imposed by the Competition Council, saying that the decision is "groundless."

Following the investigation, the competition authority found that, at least during the period 2017-2018, the three cement producers exchanged sensitive commercial information (information regarding future prices, discounts, payment terms, payment terms, quantities, volumes, etc.) through customers.

Thus, the Competition Council reported that each of the three producers implemented mechanisms for the organization and internal use of information collected from customers through regional sales agents. In this way, they had access to information that was not public (not about shelf prices), which they centralized, monitored, and used in establishing commercial strategies regarding pricing policy.

"Each company involved could reasonably foresee that information about its own commercial conditions would reach other producers. The behavior led to reduced competition, which generated an increase in cement prices compared to neighboring countries," said Bogdan Chirițoiu, president of the Competition Council.

iulian@romania-insider.com

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