Uruguay: Country opens ‘new front’ in tissue cartel case

Chilean paper company CMPC, through its Uruguay branch, Ipusa SA, has come forward to offer its cooperation with local authorities in their investigation into the far-reaching tissue paper cartel known as the “comfort cartel’. The Chilean company is accused of entering price-fixing deals with several competitors in countries throughout the region.

Uruguay’s Commission for the Promotion and Defense of Competition opened its investigation in November, hoping to discover whether Uruguay’s market had experienced similar distortions to those detected in Chile, Peru and Colombia. The price-fixing cartel, led by CMPC and its partners including the US’s Kimberly Clarke and Swedish SCA, had operated for over 10 years. Uruguay has not yet confirmed any price-fixing in its own market.

CMPC has been a player in Uruguay’s tissue paper market since 1994, when it bought out Ipusa SA. The company currently holds 80% of market share in Uruguay, posting sales of over $90 million dollars in 2014.

Source: T13

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