Antimonopoly Committee: Artel is not a monopoly

The Antimonopoly Committee commented on the appeal of a social network user Otabek Nuritdinov to the head of the capital’s administration Jakhongir Artikhodjayev.

“It is clear that the online message is directed to a specific person – the khokim of Tashkent. So he himself knows and decides how to answer,” the Antimonopoly Committee said.

At the same time, specialists of the Antimonopoly Committee provided the following explanations.

Regarding the company Crafers:

As of August 1, more than 600 business entities that are specialized in the production of confectionery products are operating in the country, there is also a large number of imported goods on the market, that is, the market is low concentrated with a high level of competition. At the same time, market calculations of shares show the absence of signs of a dominant (monopoly) position of any business entities.

“In other words, Crafers is not a monopolist and has no market influence on the confectionery market,” the committee said.

Regarding the company Artel:

According to the committee, more than 10 companies are engaged in the production of household appliances (large and small) in Uzbekistan.

At the same time, analysis of the information received from statistical authorities shows that more than 100 business entities with a significant volume of imports are involved in the import of household appliances of similar technical and quality indicators. Market concentration indicators say that the home appliance market as a whole is moderately concentrated, where there is no share that allows talking about the dominance of an individual manufacturer in this market.

“Accordingly, the Artel company and its affiliates are also not monopolists,” the committee emphasized.

Regarding the company Akfa Group:

Production of doors and sills for them, windows and their frames made of plastic is carried out by more than 180 business entities throughout the republic. 

In addition, business entities are also represented on the market for the production of doors and sills for them, windows and their frames made of aluminum, the number of which is more than 400. 

In general, this market is low concentrated with a developed level of competition. 

“However, in view of the technical and technological features of the market, and also considering that the aluminum and plastic profiles produced are considered as separate goods, the Committee needs to conduct additional studies, including regarding the possible dominant position of an individual company or group of persons, based on the results of which we will inform later. In a market economy, the state does not have the right to intervene in the economic activities of business entities, which, in turn, independently determine the prices of the manufactured goods and direction of doing business as a whole,” the committee’s press service said.

The Antimonopoly Committee also reminded that in accordance with the legislation, the dominant position is recognized as the position of an economic entity or group of persons in a particular product market, which gives them the opportunity to carry out activities independently of competing economic entities and to have a decisive influence on the state of competition and impede access to the relevant market to other business entities or otherwise restrict the freedom of their economic activity.