SEOUL, Sept. 25 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's antitrust regulator said Monday it has decided to slap a fine of 3.2 billion won (US$2.39 million) on an affiliate of SeAH Group, a steelmaking conglomerate, for allegedly selling its products at unreasonably low prices to benefit another affiliate.
The punitive measure against SeAH Changwon Integrated Special Steel Corp. came as it sold stainless steel pipes to SeAH CTC, which was acquired by the controlling family's privately-run firm in 2015, at "significantly low prices," the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said.
According to the FTC, SeAH Changwon sold stainless steel pipes to SeAH CTC with discounts of around 1,000 won per kilogram from 2016 to 2019, which resulted in "an excessive economic benefit" for the counterpart.
"The amount of discounts provided to SeAH CTC was at a level enough to cause an operation loss for SeAH Changwon," the regulator said.
On the other hand, SeAH CTC, which posted sales of 9.2 billion won in 2015, was able to expand the volume to 26.3 billion won in 2017 on the back of such support, it added.
The FTC noted the latest measure is significant, as it curbed activities in which controlling families transferred wealth to their private companies, simultaneously bolstering the market dominance of those businesses.
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