The Federal Court last month ordered Singapore based Asia Pulp & Paper Co Ltd and a related Indonesian company, PT Indah Kiat Pulp and Paper Tbk to pay penalties totalling $4.2 million for fixing the price of photocopy paper supplied to Australian customers. Click here for the ACCC announcement.
I can’t find out the brands of copy paper this relates to. The case interests me for a couple of reasons:
- The continued focus of the ACCC of anti competitive behaviour. This is an important function of the ACCC as there are certainly business people out there who are happy to collude in order to protect their business.
- The case is a reminder of the challenges in the copy paper area. Margins are wafer thin and it is difficult to win business on price.
I am glad the companies got caught and were penalised.