Major domestic flour milling companies have been caught allegedly fixing prices of flour by-products used as feed ingredients for over eight years, bringing the case before the Fair Trade Commission (FTC).

The FTC secretariat announced that it has submitted an examination report containing the findings and sanction opinions compiled by investigators regarding the alleged price collusion of flour by-products by six companies—Daehan Flour Mills, Sajo Dong-A One, Sajo Daerim, Samyang Corporation, CJ CheilJedang, and Hantop—to the commission and sent it to the respondents.

The examination report is a document detailing the legal violations identified by investigators during the probe. Its submission to the commission and delivery to the respondents means that formal deliberation procedures have begun.

Investigators concluded that the six companies engaged in price-fixing for monthly sales of flour by-products for approximately eight and a half years, from April 2017 to October 2025.

The relevant sales affected by the collusion amount to 1.4 trillion won.

Flour by-products refer to items such as wheat bran and low-grade flour generated during the flour-milling process, which are mainly used as core ingredients for livestock mixed feed.

The market share held by these six companies in the wheat bran market is approximately 78%.

If flour milling companies collude on prices to drive up feed ingredient costs, it could potentially trigger a chain reaction leading to higher mixed feed prices, thereby increasing the financial burden on livestock farms and consumer food prices.

Investigators judged such acts to be severe violations of the Fair Trade Act (price collusion), and reportedly proposed corrective orders, the imposition of surcharges, and the filing of criminal complaints against the corporations and executives involved.

The respondents can exercise their rights of defense, such as submitting written opinions and applying for the review and copying of evidentiary materials, within eight weeks from the date they receive the examination report.

The FTC plans to hold a full committee meeting to determine whether to issue sanctions and decide on their level once the procedures for guaranteeing the respondents' defense rights, including the submission of opinions, are concluded.

Previously in May, these flour milling companies were also slapped with surcharges totaling 671 billion won for colluding on flour prices.

Those seven companies were Daehan Flour Mills, CJ CheilJedang, Sajo Dong-A One, Samyang Corporation, Daesun Flour Mills, Samhwa Flour Mills, and Hantop.

Among them, Daesun Flour Mills and Samhwa Flour Mills were excluded from the latest by-product collusion case as no evidence of their involvement was found.

Sajo Daerim was added as it was confirmed to have been involved in the by-product collusion because it consigns the sale of its flour by-products to Sajo Dong-A One.

(Photo provided by the Fair Trade Commission, Yonhap News)