German Companies Fined for Price Fixing

Bonn, Germany, Nov. 4, 2011 -- The German Federal Cartel Office has imposed fines totaling approximately $57.9 million on four manufacturers of particleboard, oriented strand board and other wood-based products for conspiring to fix prices of their products, according to Woodworking Network.

The companies include Glunz AG, Kronoply GmbH, Pfleiderer AG, and Rauch Spanplattenwerk GmbH.

The GFCO said two cartels were uncovered in the course of its investigation. The first concerned raw and laminated particleboard panels, MDF and HDF panels, and tongue and groove particleboard panels which were supplied to trade and industry.

From early 2002 until late 2007, GFCO said, representatives of the companies Egger, Glunz, Pfleiderer and Rauch met to agree on price increases, price floors, individual manufacturing surcharges and in some cases customized prices,.

The second cartel was formed in 2004 for OSB products by Egger, Glunz and Kronoply.