Region: “Hard to believe” directors knew nothing of Tissue Paper cartel

Colombia’s Superintendent for Commerce and Industry has declared that it would be ‘hard to believe’ that, in a case such as that involving Chile’s Matte Group and Sweden’s SCA, being investigated in Chile, Colombia, Peru, Uruguay, Argentina and Ecuador, the board of directors would have no knowledge of these illegal practices.

The Tissue Paper cartel was made up of affiliates of the Matte Group’s flagship company, CMPC, which heavily manipulated Latin America’s tissue paper market. The case has had deep echoes across Latin America’s competition authorities, with ongoing investigations in Colombia (against Drypers Andina, Productos Familia and others), Chile (with sanctions being discussed for CMPC and SCA after being alerted by Colombia’s investigation) and Peru, where the country’s regulator INDECOPI has begun proceedings against CMPC and their local partner, American firm Kimberly Clark.

Other countries have started their own preliminary investigations into their tissue markets, including Uruguay. The country has based its investigation on information provided by Chile, Peru and Colombia. Meanwhile, Argentina’s National Competition Defense Commission has also started a similar investigation. Chile’s CMPC is a major player in both countries, as well as in Ecuador, which has also started preliminary moves to assess its market.

Colombia’s competition regulator has pointed out that “It seems like an unbelievable tale, to say the least, that the directors of a large economic group, engaged in cartel activity in highly-concentrated markets which have endured over many years throughout the region, would be unaware of the facts.”

Full content: Entorno Inteligente

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