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Russian watchdog takes on nation’s top steel producers over monopolistic pricing

The producers may face turnover-based fines if the fact of a violation is established, according to the regulator

© Vladimir Smirnov/TASS

MOSCOW, April 27. /TASS/. Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has launched cases against MMK, NLMK and Severstal because, as the watchdog stated, they maintained monopolistically high prices on the flat-rolled steel market.

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"The FAS has initiated three cases on the market for flat-rolled products. According to the service, Severstal, MMK and NLMK maintained monopolistically high prices. <...> Given that signs of violating the anti-monopoly legislation were unveiled in the actions of the companies that are rivals on the market of hot-rolled products, Russia’s FAS has launched separate cases against each company. This type of inquiry will prevent the rival companies from getting access to each other’s commercial information, and coordinating their positions and actions," the FAS said in a statement.

The audit came on the heels of a statement that the service had received pointing to unreasonable price hikes for hot-rolled flat products, the statement said. According to the FAS, the price hikes surged faster than those of commodity costs. "The demand from Russian consumers did not soar, which consequently could not trigger an increase of prices by more than 50% in the first half of 2021," the watchdog explained.

These producers may face turnover-based fines if the fact of a violation is established, the regulator added.

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