RIYADH — The General Authority for Competition (GAC) has slapped fines amounting to a total of SR140 million on 14 Saudi local cement companies after they were found guilty of price manipulation.

Each company has to pay fines amounting to SR10 million after they were convicted of trying to manipulate the domestic cement market with a price rise. The 14 manufacturers, who control most of the Saudi cement market, were accused of reaching an illegal agreement among themselves to raise cement prices and share the local markets.

After conducting a thorough investigation into complaints filed by consumers, the GAC concluded that 14 cement firms were involved in illegal practices to “manipulate the market and increase cement prices.”

The authority said that it had received a number of complaints about several cement firms violating the provisions of the Competition Law and its executive regulations by agreeing among themselves to control prices and share markets, which is prohibited by paragraph 1 of Article Four of the Competition Law.

The board of directors of GAC decided to carry out a probe into the complaints. After collecting evidence and information and conducting the necessary investigations, it was proven that each of the 14 companies violated the Competition Law by agreeing to raise cement prices simultaneously.

The authority said in a statement that the decision to penalize them became final after the issuance of rulings by the Administrative Court of Appeal in Riyadh, rejecting the lawsuits filed by the companies challenging the decision to penalize them.

The penalized cement companies included Al-Safwa, Al-Madinah, Umm Al-Qura, Al-Jouf, Al-Qassim, the Southern Cement, Najran, United Cement, Al-Yamama, Al-Riyadh, Arabian Cement, Saudi Cement, Yanbu, and Hail. The decision to take punitive measures was published in the local media at the expense of the violating companies, the statement added.

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