FTC Fines Daesang, Sajo CPK, Samyang, and CJ CheilJedong KRW 747.6 Billion

The Fair Trade Commission’s (FTC) Secretariat submitted a review report on the bid-rigging for modified starch and corn by-products, as well as price-fixing, to the commission and forwarded it to the involved companies, including Daesang, Sajo CPK, Samyang, and CJ CheilJedong. The FTC decided to impose a total fine of KRW 747.6 billion on these four companies, along with corrective orders such as prohibitions on illegal acts and orders to independently reset prices.

These companies conspired and executed price increases and decreases for starch and modified starch for 7 years and 5 months from May 2018 to October 2025. They agreed five times to minimize the reduction and delay its timing in response to buyers' requests for price cuts when corn prices fell. They agreed eight times to raise sales prices in order to pass on cost increases to their trading partners when corn prices rose.

Sales related to the modified starch bid-rigging were estimated at KRW 940 billion, and sales related to the price-fixing of corn by-products were estimated at KRW 1.55 trillion.