27 June 2019, Thursday, 18:47 461

Antimonopoly Committee Launches Investigation Against MHP On Suspicion Of Monopoly Abuse

Editor: Daria Zubkova

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The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine has launched an investigation into the activities of five factories and the Mironivsky Hliboproduct Private Joint Stock Company (PJSC Mironivsky Hliboproduct), which are part of one Kyiv-based Mironivsky Hliboproduct (MHP), one of the largest producers of poultry meat in Ukraine, on suspicion of abuse of monopoly on the poultry market.

The Antimonopoly Committee’s head Yurii Terentiev announced this on Facebook, the Ukrainian News Agency reports.

According to him, an investigation by the Antimonopoly Committee indicated that MHP has a monopoly position on the primary chicken market.

He noted that MHP engages in production of chicken meat at its own poultry farms and that almost the entire volume of goods it produces is sold through PJSC Mironivsky Hliboproduct.

According to him, the investigation established that PJSC Mironivsky Hliboproduct sets for its trading partners conditions that would enable it to secure sales markets, requires them to adhere to MHP’s pricing policy, and prohibits them from selling competitors' products.

MHP thus implements a restrictive trade policy in relation to distributors, sub-distributors, and partners, Terentiev wrote.

According to Terentiev, the aim of such actions could be to strengthen their own positions on the market and limit the competitiveness of the products of competitors with weaker positions on the market.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, the Association of Poultry Farmers stated in early 2018 that it considered the Antimonopoly Committee allegations of violation of the law on protection of economic competition on the poultry meat market to be groundless.

the Antimonopoly Committee investigated the poultry market in 2017 and said that producers could be violating the law on protection of economic competition by colluding on pricing policies and that one of the producers could be abusing its monopoly position on the market.

Terentiev stated at the time that the Mironivsky Hliboproduct company had a dominant position on the domestic chicken market, with a share of more than 40%, with its share exceeding 70% in some retail chains.

In response, MHP said that one of the reasons for price increases was a 20% increase in the cost of production of poultry meat, which was particularly due an increase in the price of grain, which accounts for a significant share of the production cost.