OREANDA-NEWS. October 08, 2010. The Office of the Federal Antimonopoly Service in Samara region (OFAS Russia) initiated a case against wholesale suppliers of buckwheat “Ekho” Ltd., “TD-Holding” Ltd., “RESOURCE” Ltd., “Vladimir I K” Ltd., “Alekon” Ltd., “Samarskaya Niva” Ltd. and “AgroMir” Ltd. - for the signs of violating Article 11 of the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition” (prohibiting competition-restricting agreements or concerted actions between economic entities on the market), reported the press-centre of FAS Russia.

On 3 - 6 August 2010 Samara OFAS Russia inspected fifty food stores in Samara region operating on the markets of socially-important goods and found that peeled buckwheat was available only in twenty stores.

According to the data obtained from the Regional Samara Office of the Federal State Statistics Service, from July to August 2010 average consumer prices for peeled buckwheat in Samara region increased by 13.44 Rubles per kg.

Due to sharp increase of retail prices for peeled buckwheat, Samara OFAS Russia sent enquiries about suppliers of buckwheat to trade networks “Magnit”, “Ostap”, “Ashsan” and “Kopeika”. Having analyzed the data, OFAS proved that retail buckwheat prices went up due to growing wholesale (purchasing) prices.

According to the information provided by trade networks, wholesale buckwheat prices in January 2010 varied from 18 to 35 Rubles per kg, and most of wholesale suppliers of buckwheat started increasing prices in May 2010.

Samara OFAS Russia discovered that in September 2010 wholesale prices for suppliers- “Ekho” Ltd., “TD-Holding” Ltd., “RESOURCE” Ltd., “Vladimir I K” Ltd., “Alekon” Ltd., “Samarskaya Niva” Ltd. and “AgroMir” Ltd. – were fixed at 49-51Rubles per kg.

The Antimonopoly Service regularly receives petitions from physical persons and enquiries from mass media regarding sharp increase of prices for buckwheat in the store in Samara region.

On 28th September 2010, Samara OFAS Russia “initiated a case against Ekho” Ltd., “TD-Holding” Ltd., “RESOURCE” Ltd., “Vladimir I K” Ltd., “Alekon” Ltd., “Samarskaya Niva” Ltd. and “AgroMir” Ltd. upon the signs of concerted actions.

Reference:
As of 29th September 2010 FAS Russia initiated in total 160 cases, of which:

- 112 cases upon the signs of antimonopoly violations (Article 10 – 30 cases; Article 11 – 75cases; Article 15 – 7 cases);

- 26 cases upon the signs of violating the law on trade;

- 22 cases on administrative violations, the sanctions for which is a fine, including:

- 19 cases for failure to submit information upon a request of the antimonopoly authority (Article 19.8 of the Code on Administrative Violations);

- 1 case – restricting competition by the authorities (Article 14.9 of the Code on Administrative Violations);

- 2 – abusing market dominance - (Article 14.31 of the Code on Administrative Violations).