According to an announcement this Thursday (August 26), the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) of Russia has launched unscheduled anti-cartel investigations on several large valve producers in Russia, including NLMK, Industrial Metallurgical Holding (IMH), Novostal-M, and Tulachermet-Stal.

The FAS has data that indicated signs of price collusion, the result of which may be the growth and maintenance of selling prices for valves.

If such price collusion occurs, these companies may face a turnover fine of up to 15% of their annual revenue. At the end of last year, the turnover of audited organizations was more than 4 trillion rubles.