Chairperson Ju Biung-ghi said on the 24th that collusion over school uniforms is suspected to be customary and that the agency will actively step up monitoring and sanctions.
The chairperson attended a Cabinet meeting presided over by President Lee Jae-myung at the Blue House that day and said, "We will review livelihood items such as pork, eggs, and school uniforms sequentially from March to May."
Regarding the sugar collusion case, for which the review was completed this month, the chairperson said, "We believe further price cuts are needed going forward." Recently, companies lowered sugar prices by 16.5%, but the remark called for cutting prices further than that. On the 12th, the Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) imposed a penalty surcharge of 408.3 billion won on seven companies—CJ CheilJedang, Daehan Flour Mills, Sajo Dongaone, Samyang Corporation, Daesun Flour Mills, Samhwa Flour Mills, and Hantop—for colluding on sugar prices.
The chairperson said, "We will use measures such as price redetermination orders to induce sufficient price cuts that people can feel," adding, "We will continuously check through a task force (TF) to ensure that declines in materials and supplies prices spread across processed foods such as snacks and bread, and across food overall."
The chairperson added, "As the president noted, for companies that repeatedly participate in collusion, we will swiftly report, in consultation with relevant ministries, measures to sanction them at a level equivalent to market exit, as in other advanced countries."