Russia’s antitrust warns Eurocement against hiking prices
Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has again warned Russian cement producer Eurocement Group against increasing cement prices further, the FAS said Tuesday. Director of the FAS Igor Artemyev sent a letter warning the Chairman of Eurocement Group’s board of directors Filaret Galchev, the FAS said. Eurocement Group is to inform the FAS before it raises its cement prices by more than five per cent, the FAS said. On this condition the FAS earlier approved Eurocement Group’s purchases of several cement plants, the FAS said.
Meanwhile, Artemyev sent letters about the state of the Russian cement market to First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref on April 14, the FAS said. The FAS director argued in the letters that Eurocement Group deliberately distorted information about its operations and the state of the cement market in a letter it sent earlier to the government, the FAS said.
In particular, the FAS believes that Eurocement Group’s forecast about a deficit of cement, which Eurocement Group made in its letter to the government, is not based on facts, the FAS said. Current owners of cement plants have sufficient funds of their own to finance upgrades of their plants and to build new ones, contrary to Eurocement Group’s claim in the letter to the government, the FAS said. Published under Cement News
