457 million yuan! 18 PVC enterprise collective price was punished

18 raw material companies have been fined 457 million yuan for violating the anti-monopoly Law, the National Development and Reform Commission announced. Two weeks ago, only five companies were listed in the media, and the fine was no more than 100 million yuan.

The anti-monopoly case goes like this. At the beginning of this year, the National Development and Reform Commission received a report that some operators of polyvinyl chloride resin (PVC for short) had monopolized prices, jointly pushed up the selling price of PVC, increased the cost burden of downstream enterprises using PVC as raw materials, and harmed the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.

After receiving the report, the National Development and Reform Commission immediately launched an anti-monopoly investigation.

The investigation found that 18 companies involved in the sale of PVC products in 2016 through wechat group repeatedly reached a unified price increase monopoly agreement, resulting in a significant increase in the PVC market price. According to the investigation, from March to December 2016, the enterprises involved in the case held 6 meetings in the name of "Northwest Chlor-alkali Consortium" to exchange market conditions, discuss production and sales volume, and reached 13 price monopoly agreements through wechat group, jointly pushing up the PVC price.