As a result of administrative proceedings instituted against a number of economic entities within the scope of a study of the sugar market, the State Commission for the Protection of Economic Competition has decided to fine Alex Holding LLC nearly AMD 24,700,000 for abuse of overriding position.

Investigation of the proceedings showed that in the entire period of monitoring by the Commission (January 2018-March 2020), Alex Holding abused the overriding position in the sugar market through unsubstantiated lowering of prices, application of discriminatory conditions and prices, establishment or imposition of conditions that lead or could have led to restriction on, prevention or prohibition of economic competition. In particular, Alex Holding’s actions were aimed at maintaining the company’s share in the sugar market, that is, lowering the price of sugar produced and imported by the company in such a way that it would be possible to sell the sugar at a competitive price and suffering losses in certain cases. As a result, selling sugar will no longer be appropriate for economic entities having imported sugar at a price relatively lower than the price of sugar sold by Alex Holding.

By the Commission’s decision, Alex Holding LLC has been assigned to eliminate the violation of the law within a one-month period, that is, to bring the conditions for sale of sugar and the pricing policy into line with the law by setting specific, objective and non-discriminatory conditions for sale of sugar.