Seoul, Dec 29 The antitrust regulator said on Monday it has decided to fine 48 furniture manufacturers and suppliers for allegedly colluding in bids for built-in furniture ordered by construction companies.
The companies will be fined a combined 25 billion won (US$17.4 million) for colluding to predetermine winning bidders or bid prices between September 2013 and May 2022, according to the Fair Trade Commission (FTC), reports Yonhap news agency.
The FTC said the collusion was widespread, occurring in 240 bidding processes ordered by 54 construction companies.
Enex Co. will face the largest penalty of 5.84 billion won, followed by Hanssem Co., which was fined 3.8 billion won, the FTC said.
Built-in furniture refers to fixtures, such as kitchen cabinets and built-in closets, that are installed inside apartments and offices during construction.
Meanwhile, Coupang, a leading e-commerce company in South Korea, has received the largest amount of fines from the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) among conglomerates over the past three years, a parliamentary report showed.
According to the report compiled by the FTC and submitted to Rep. Choo Kyung-ho of the main opposition People Power Party, Coupang was fined a total of 162.8 billion won (US$114.3 million) from the first half of 2022 to the first half of this year.
Last year, the FTC imposed the fine on the company for manipulating search algorithms to boost the "Coupang ranking" of its private-label and directly purchased products.
Top carmaker Hyundai Motor Group followed with cumulative fines of 119.4 billion won, trailed by poultry-processing company Harim Group with 101.6 billion won and SK Group with 64.5 billion won.
The top 10 conglomerates were fined a combined 744.6 billion won during the three-year period.
Hyundai Department Store Group recorded the highest number of violations, 38 in total, mostly due to multiple collusion cases involving its furniture affiliate Hyundai Livart Furniture.
Hanssem Co. came next with 33 violations, followed by SK Group with 31 and Enex Co. with 28. Altogether, the top 10 companies violated antitrust law 243 times over the cited period.
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