Romania's competition body investigates possible collusion on timber market

Romania's Competition Council has expanded its investigation into the local timber market with over 35 other companies. Thus, 94 companies are being investigated, including the local subsidiaries of Austrian groups Holzindustrie Schweighofer and Egger and Swiss group Kronospan.

The competition authority launched the investigation in 2016 looking into possible arrangements among wood processors to share the volume of wood auctioned by the state forestry company Romsilva and pay a price well below the one that would have resulted if they had competed against each other.

“During the investigation, we have obtained new indications suggesting the involvement of several companies in the sector in possible anti-competitive agreements, and we will now very carefully analyze the public auctions in this sector,” said Bogdan Chiriţoiu, president of the Competition Council.

At the end of last year, the Competition Council sanctioned local timber producers Forestar SA, Nico Paul SRL and Saniral SRL with fines totaling RON 2.3 million (approximately EUR 500,000), on charges of collusion in an auction conducted by Romsilva.

The competition authority also completed a sector inquiry into the primary timber market in 2017 and inked several proposals and recommendations for improving competition in the sector.

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