The Russian Antimonopoly Agency (FAS) carried out an unscheduled inspection of several large commercial enterprises at the request of the Moscow prosecutor. As a result, the FAS exposed violations by two organizations that could have caused sugar prices to rise. The names of the organizations have not been disclosed and the Moscow prosecutor has issued a warning.
As the antimonopoly agency found, the two organizations had entered into an anti-competitive agreement “with other legal entities” and were also involved in coordinating “other companies’ economic activities”. This is a violation of the federal law “On the protection of competition” and could lead to the “setting or maintenance of prices” for a socially important food such as sugar.
The FAS recalls that competing companies are prohibited from entering into agreements that “fix or maintain prices, divide up the market for goods on a territorial basis, reduce or cease production of goods, and refuse to enter into contracts with certain sellers or Buyers to complete ”. “In order to prevent an unreasonable increase in sugar prices, Moscow City Prosecutor Denis Popov has issued warnings to the heads of two companies whose actions show signs of violations”, so the Moscow Prosecutor’s Office in a press release.
At the end of 2020, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and a number of producers and networks had signed an agreement setting the maximum sales prices for sugar and sunflower oil. The maximum selling price of the edible oil was 95 rubles with a retail price of 110 rubles (about 1.20 euros) per liter. The maximum price for sugar was 36 rubles and 46 rubles per kilogram, respectively. The contracts should apply until the end of the first quarter of 2021. A decision to extend the agreements if necessary can be made in March.
[hrsg/russland.NEWS]
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