Romania’s Competition Council has started an investigation targeting a possible anticompetition deal between cement producers Holcim Romania, CRH Ciment Romania, and Heidelbergcement Romania.

The three companies are suspected of having split the local cement market in terms of market shares, offered products, production and sales levels, technical development and investments. This may have also been correlated with a possible price-fixing policy, starting 2010, according to a press release of the Competition Council.

The watchdog has already carried out unannounced inspections at the headquarters of the three companies, collecting documents for the investigation.

The sanctions for breaching competition rules can reach up to 10% of the companies’ turnover. However, the companies that cooperate with the Competition Council within the clemency program can get lower penalties or can even be excepted from paying fines.

Holcim, CRH and Heidelbergcement are the only three cement producers in Romania. The three companies, which are comparable in size, had cumulated sales of EUR 631 million and net profits of close to EUR 80 million in 2017.

editor@romania-insider.com

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