South Korea Imposes Record 700+ Billion Won Fine on 4 Starch Makers for 7-Year Price-Fixing Scheme

According to South Korea's Fair Trade Commission, the regulator imposed corrective orders and fines totaling approximately 747.6 billion won (roughly $560 million USD equivalent) on July 7 against four starch manufacturers—Daisho, Sacho CPK, Samyang Foods, and CJ CheilJedang—for a price-fixing collusion spanning 7 years and 5 months involving 13 instances of coordinated price increases and decreases.

The four companies, which collectively hold 95.7 percent of the domestic starch market and 86.4 percent of the starch sugar market, coordinated price hikes eight times when corn prices rose and agreed five times to minimize or delay price cuts when global corn prices fell, shifting commodity cost burdens to customers during the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia-Ukraine war. Prices surged as much as 73 percent compared to May 2018 when the collusion began. Individual fines: Daisho 234.1 billion won, Samyang 210.3 billion won, Sacho CPK 200.1 billion won, and CJ CheilJedang 103 billion won.