Steelmakers Hit With Fine by German Cartel Office for Price Fixing Charges

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The antitrust authority in Germany has fined three steelmakers for allegedly fixing prices of steel products over a period of time. Out of the three, two are German companies and the other is from Austria.

According to German Federal Cartel Office, Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe, Ilsenburger Grobblech and Austria’s Voestalpine Grobblech had been in touch regularly to fix the surcharges and price supplements for quarto plates in Germany. Incidentally, the category of plate steel is used extensively in building bridges, ships, pipelines and machinery. The above companies were found involved in price rigging for a long period extending from 2002 until 2016.

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All the three companies have reportedly admitted the charges and accepted a settlement. Subsequently, fines totalling around $720 million were imposed on them. Also, Voestalpine has announced willingness to pay the fine. As per law, the companies could still appeal against the fine. Meantime, another German firm Dillinger Hüttenwerken, which had also been involved in the price fixing allegation, has not been imposed a fine, following the company’s early decision to cooperate with the authorities.

Recently, the German federal cartel office had fined three car manufacturers- BMW, Volkswagen and Daimler over forming cartel to decide upon uniform surcharges on long steel products.