FAS defended paper manufacturer “Mondi Syktyvkar Forestry Enterprise”

FAS has not found violations of the antimonopoly law in the actions of “Mondi Syktyvkar Forestry Enterprise” JSC on the market of offset paper. The company was suspected of fixing monopolistically high price.

FAS terminated the proceedings against “Mondi Syktyvkar Forestry Enterprise” JSC upon signs of abusing dominance (Part 1 Article 10 of the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition”) due to the fact of absence of violating the antimonopoly law.

The antimonopoly investigation started upon an inspection of the largest manufacturers of pulp-and-paper products whether their prices complied with the antimonopoly law.  The investigation was opened upon the increased costs of the offset paper in January - December 2015.

Having studied the materials and the arguments and explanations of the parties, the Commission concluded that due to a new economic entity entering the market in 2015 – “Archangelsk Pulp-and-Paper Works” JSC, shares were considerably redistributed between market players. In this context, “Mondi Syktyvkar Forestry Enterprise” JSC lost the dominant position on the market of the offset paper.

Stats-Secretary, Deputy Head of FAS Andrey Tsarikovskiy reminded manufacturers of pulp-and-paper products that the market is socially important and called upon them to behave maximum carefully in the pricing issues to avoid antimonopoly sanctions.

He emphasized: “We continue monitoring the trends on the market of pulp-and-paper products and should there be signs of violations FAS will immediately undertake antimonopoly measures”.