From Food to Sanitary Pads and School Uniforms: KFTC Targets Consumer Prices

The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) is widening the scope of its crackdown to cover consumer prices across the board. After sugar and flour, it is now zeroing in on key food items such as starch sugar, eggs, and pork, as well as sanitary pads and school uniforms, effectively targeting everyday consumer markets. As President Lee Jae Myung of South Korea repeatedly stresses the need to stabilize consumer prices, observers say the KFTC is accelerating a structural review of so-called "consumer-price cartels."
According to relevant ministries on the 22nd, the KFTC is concentrating its investigative resources on collusion cases directly linked to people’s livelihoods. It has set up case-specific task forces (TFs) to shorten investigation periods, and is also reviewing effective corrective measures such as ordering companies to reset prices where necessary, signaling a tougher enforcement stance.
The case moving fastest is the alleged flour price-fixing. On the 19th, the KFTC sent its examiner’s report to seven flour milling companies. The investigation began in October last year and reached a conclusion in about four months, an unusually rapid pace compared with major collusion cases that typically take around a year. Attention is now on whether the plenary meeting will impose a price-redecision measure aimed at forcing price cuts.
Sanctions in the sugar price-fixing case have also been severe. The KFTC found that three sugar producers—CJ CheilJedang, Samyang, and Daehan Sugar—colluded on sales prices and imposed fines totaling more than 400 billion won. This is the second-largest amount ever imposed in such a case.
The investigative front is expanding further. In the food sector, alleged collusion involving starch sugar, eggs, and pork is being probed simultaneously. In the starch sugar market, a dedicated investigation team is currently examining major suppliers. For eggs, the KFTC has prepared an examiner’s report on whether the Korea Egg Producers Association (KEPA) led price increases and has submitted the case to a plenary meeting.
Everyday essentials are no exception. The KFTC has conducted on-site inspections of three sanitary pad manufacturers—Yuhan-Kimberly, LG Unicharm, and KleanNara. In the school uniform market, it has also held joint meetings with the Ministry of Education and other bodies to discuss institutional reforms.
This broad-based push is widely seen as aligned with President Lee Jae Myung’s policy line, which puts consumer prices at the center of national governance. At a recent meeting with his senior aides, Lee remarked, "When cattle prices collapse but beef prices do not fall, that is a problem with the national system," and instructed relevant agencies to respond more forcefully. Following his remarks, the government launched the Ministerial Task Force on Special Management of Consumer Prices, led by the KFTC, and established a system to monitor unfair trade practices.
Yoo Sung-wook, the KFTC’s director-general for investigations, commented on why the flour case was wrapped up unusually quickly, stating, "The fact that we conducted an intensive investigation over a short period of four months cannot be seen as unrelated to the President’s remarks."
Experts expect the KFTC’s probes into price-related issues to intensify for the time being. They forecast that, with the President’s public statements and the activation of a pan-government response system, policy pressure will rise on collusion cases directly tied to consumer prices.
Professor Lee Jung-hee of the Department of Economics at Chung-Ang University said, "Given how strongly the President has signaled that price stability is his top priority, decisions on price-fixing cases and the level of sanctions are likely to become even stricter."
hippo@fnnews.com Kim Chan-mi Reporter