Exclusive – An Indian antitrust watchdog attacks Glencore's business, still others on the price of legumes: sources

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – The Indian antitrust controller on Saturday attacked units of world commodity trader Glencore and two other companies in Mumbai as part of an investigation into alleged collusion over the price of pulses. to Reuters four sources informed of these attacks.

More than 25 antitrust officials have carried out searches at the offices of Glencore's local units and the African Export Trading Group, and the Indian group Edelweiss, which previously ran a commodity business, two government sources told Reuters.

The India Competition Commission (ICC) has investigated allegations that companies would have formed a cartel to discuss the price of pulses, while importing them and selling them in the Indian market at prices higher in 2015 and 2016, while India was facing an acute shortage. I said.

A spokesman for Glencore, based in Switzerland, Charles Watenphul, declined to comment, while Edelweiss (India), which had sold its commodity trading business in November 2016, and the Export Trading Group did not respond to requests for comments.

Prices of legumes such as chickpeas and black grams, the staple foods of Indian cuisine, forced New Delhi to offer duty-free imports in 2015, encouraging Indian and foreign traders importing pulses to sell on their own. the local market.

"The collusion of these companies has resulted in higher prices for pulses," said one government source, adding that the ICC investigation had started three months ago.

The survey will also look at whether companies have continued their alleged cartel even after the stabilization of pulse prices in recent years, the source said.

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The raids in five offices of the company in the Indian financial capital began Friday and ended on Saturday.

Antitrust officials collected evidence, including documents and e-mails, and questioned company officials during the raids, a second government source said.

Another source, an industry leader, told Reuters that CCI's research involved consulting the company's archives at Glencore's Mumbai office, confirming that this was part of the monitoring body's investigation into import pricing charges.

The 2015 drought has gnawed crops and exacerbated food shortages such as protein-rich legumes and India, which consumes about 22 million tons of legumes a year, has recorded a shortage of 7 to 8 million tonnes in 2015-2016.

CCI's searches of commodity traders are only the fourth such transaction in its 10 years of existence. They can only be conducted with the approval of a judge.

In October, ITC raided the offices of global brewers such as Carlsberg and Anheuser Busch InBev and found e-mails reporting violations of Indian antitrust laws. (Reut.rs/2JeQKEs)

Brewing companies have pleaded leniency as part of a CCI program, Reuters reported.