FAS started anti-cartel check of Miratorg

The service is interested in the work of the meat supply chain and the pricing criteria for products. She promises to announce her decision after collecting and analyzing all the necessary information. FAS has been conducting inspections of retailers and networks since March

The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) announced that it was conducting an anti-cartel audit of the agro-industrial company Miratorg: meat supply chains were being studied, and the pricing system was being assessed. FAS reported about it in Telegram.

“The agency will study the meat supply chain and evaluate the pricing for this product. The final conclusions about the presence or absence <...> of a violation of the antimonopoly law will be made by the department based on the results of verification activities, as well as an analysis of all the information received, ”the report says.

RBC sent a request to Miratorg.

Since mid-March, the FAS has been conducting inspections of sugar and paper producers, as well as retail chains and their intermediaries. The service believes that these organizations are fueling excessive demand, which leads to a lack of goods in stores. The service has already opened a case against the retailers Pyaterochka and Magnit, having found “significant stocks” of granulated sugar in their warehouses. According to the Federal Antimonopoly Service, the companies "did not simultaneously supply goods to stores, supporting the rush demand."

On March 29, the Antimonopoly Service opened a case against Prodimex, Russia's largest sugar producer. She was accused of coordinating the activities of "trading networks in order to increase retail prices for sugar in an environment of increased demand." The company faces fines.

At the end of February, the Federal Antimonopoly Service was checking the validity of the price increase by one of the largest Russian sellers of household appliances and electronics DNS. The department then reported that “the official was issued an instruction on the inadmissibility of actions that may violate the law“ On Protection of Competition ”. Earlier, DNS CEO Dmitry Alekseev said that against the background of the depreciation of the ruble, the company was forced to increase prices in the network by almost a third.

The antimonopoly service also previously proposed to punish all market participants, including intermediaries, and not just dominant companies for speculation. The service explained this proposal by the fact that companies raise prices when there is an increased demand for any goods. A final decision on this proposal has not yet been made.

On March 23, Rosstat reported that over the week from March 12 to March 18, prices in Russia rose by 1.9%, slowing down slightly compared to the first two weeks after the start of the sanctions (then the growth was 2.2 and 2.1%). For three weeks, prices increased by an average of 6.2%.

In early March, the FAS reported that the retail chains Auchan, Atak, O'Key, Magnit, Karusel, Perekrestok and Pyaterochka had joined the authorities' initiative to voluntarily limit the margin on a number of socially significant goods, including sugar, up to 5%.

Miratorg is one of the largest vertically integrated agricultural holdings in Russia and has a full cycle chain - from the production of feed and animal rearing to the production of meat products and their sale through retail chains. It is also one of the largest meat producers in the country.