The main producers in the Romanian sector of cement manufacturing and sale market (Holcim Romania, CRH Romania and HeidelbergCement Romania) have different production capacities, but their capacity utilisation is asymmetric, so that the company with the biggest production capacity uses it the least. This aspect led to an unusual situation in which the three companies hold approximately equal market shares, and fluctuations, over time, are insignificant.
The antitrust watchdog’s analysis was aimed at identifying the potential dysfunctions in the sector and issuing recommendations meant to eliminate them for the purpose of strengthening competition.
The watchdog noticed that the prices of some types of cement offered by producers had the same evolution in time. Moreover, the main customers for each of the three producers are located approximately 350 km around the sale point, which raises suspicions regarding a possible division of the geographic market.
These aspects point to a coordination between the three producers regarding the types of cement produced and sold for the purpose of dividing the market, considering that these cement producers have the possibility of holding certain customers captive so that they maintain symmetric market shares.
In October 2018, the watchdog started an investigation into possible anticompetitive agreements between the companies Holcim (Romania) SA, CRH Ciment (Romania) SA and Heidelbergcement Romania SA. The anticompetitive agreements were allegedly aimed at dividing Romania’s cement manufacturing and sale market, from the perspective of market shares and/or products sold on the market, limiting or controlling the production, the sale process, the technical development or the investments, correlated with a possible coordination of the policy for the formation of prices imposed by the firms involved.