Hungary launches concrete investigation

Germany’s Federal Cartel Office has announced that it is to launch an investigation of the country’s concrete products sector to look into price fixing allegations. The organisation has said that the investigation covers company operating in the precast concrete elements industry, specifically those involved in the manufacture of prefabricated garages, concrete pipes, paving stones and wall elements.

A group of leading cement makers has won a battle with the European Commission over excessive data requested by the Commission for a cartel investigation.

As part of the near-five-year-probe closed in mid-2015 due to insufficient evidence, the Commission had visited the companies and later asked them to complete a questionnaire, while suspecting them of possibly restricting imports into the EU, and divvying up markets and coordinating prices.

In 2014, companies including Lafarge, Holcim, Cemex, Heide

The UK's Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has referred the aggregates, cement and ready-mix concrete markets in Great Britain to the Competition Commission.

The decision to make a market investigation reference follows the publication of the OFT's market study and its announcement of a provisional decision to refer these markets in the UK in August 2011.

Co-ordination between Lafarge Tarmac, CEMEX and Hanson, the UK’s three major cement producers, in the cement market is likely to be resulting in higher prices for cement users, according to the provisional findings of the Competition Commission’s (CC) investigation into the supply of aggregates, cement and ready-mixed concrete in Great Britain. The CC’s findings do not relate to explicit collusion between the three heavyweight cement producers. But, as the cement market is highly concentrated with only four