OREANDA-NEWS. March 12, 2013. The 9th Arbitration Appeal Court upheld the judgment of the Court of First Instance confirming legitimacy of the decision and determination issued by the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia) regarding “GAZPROM” OJSC.

Earlier, FAS initiated a case against a group of persons comprising “GAZPROM” OJSC, “Gazprom Dobycha Orengurg” Ltd., “Gazprom Dobycha Astrakhan” Ltd., “Gazprom Sera” Ltd. and “Gazpromtrans” Ltd. on violating the antimonopoly law on the market of liquid sulfur.

In March 2011 prices for liquid sulfur increased by 246% in comparison with February 2011 and prices continued increasing in 2011.

As follows from the information provided by “GAZPROM” OJSC, sulfur price is set according to the price calculating formula depending on the global sulfur prices for sulfur and diammonium phosphate and on several coefficients. Sulfur is used mainly for production of mineral fertilizers but also for production of matches, explosives, paper, etc.

On 1st November 2012, FAS fined “GAZPROM” OJSC 17.5 million Rubles for the violation. The company fixed a monopolistically high price for liquid sulfur calculated according to a formula and depending on the global prices for sulfur, diammonium phosphate and on several coefficients.

“This is a landmark case for FAS because the formula pricing is an efficient instrument of company’s pricing policy on the market. Therefore, FAS welcomes possibility to use formulae if such formulae reflect actual trends on a particular market. The main sulfur customers are producers of mineral fertilizers which means considerable social importance of the goods”, pointed out Deputy Head of FAS Andrey Tsyganov.