Colombia’s ‘sugar cartel’ and its alleged attempts to keep prices high
Colombia’s ‘sugar cartel’ and its alleged attempts to keep prices high
Posted by Torkan Omari on Jun 3, 2015 |
A five year investigation by Colombia’s Superintendency of Industry and Commerce (SIC) revealed the existence of anti-competitive agreements in Colombia’s sugar industry to drive up prices and bar competitors from the market.
The “sugar cartel”
The SIC report, released on May 29, 2015, revealed colluding practices dating from 1998 to rise prices and shut out competition between 12 sugar producing firms, 3 unions, and 16 managers.
The superintendent found that Colombian sugar producers both dictated consumer prices and implemented strategies to distribute clients among themselves. This way, they prevented new investment and competitors from entering the market.
The SIC reporters further assert that cheaper sugar coming from Bolivia was obstructed by the Colombian firms by increasing tariffs at the Buenaventura port to make the sugar imports more expensive. Consequentially, the initially cheaper Bolivian sugar would no longer enjoy an advantage over Colombia’s domestic sugar prices. If this had not been done, Bolivia’s sugar prices would have lowered the market prices, which could potentially lead to a loss for Colombia’s firms.
More:
http://colombiareports.com/colombias-sugar-cartel-and-its-alleged-attempts-to-keep-prices-high/
