Six petrochemical companies, including LG Chem, sent to trial over alleged price collusion

The prosecution has brought six companies, including LG Chem, and 37 current and former executives to trial on charges of being involved in pricefixing for petrochemical products. The case was investigated as having continued from 2021 through this year, and the scale of the collusion was found to exceed the 1.6 trillion won range. The Fair Trade Investigation Division of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office said on the 1st that it had indicted LG Chem, Aekyung Chemical, OCI, Lotte Fine Chemical, PKC, and UNID on charges of violating the Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act. Hanwha Solutions was excluded from indictment because the leniency system for voluntary reporting was applied. The prosecution explained that it confirmed signs that these companies had coordinated prices for eight items, including PVC, plasticizers, caustic soda, and hydrochloric acid. Some of the items are basic raw materials used in semiconductor manufacturing and the production of industrial materials, and prosecutors believed the collusion could have affected manufacturing costs and final consumer prices. As a result of the investigation, collusion was carried out in a way that team leaders matched prices with competitors and then reported to their superiors, and cases were also confirmed in which the winning bidder and bid price were predetermined in advance during bidding. Signs also emerged that price coordination continued even while the government was providing support for raw material purchase costs.