Azerbaijan, Baku / Trend corr I. Khalilova / CIS Inter-state Council for Anti-monopoly Policy (ICAP) plans to proceed to joint investigation of grain market to reveal availability of cartels and artificial increase of prices by grain exporters, the head of the Azerbaijan State Anti-monopoly Service, Samir Dadashev, said on 21 September.
Azerbaijan imports grain from Kazakhstan, Ukraine, and Russia, where prices have risen. Over 50 companies in Russia are engaged in grain import. "We gave information which importers, from which countries, and at what prices transport grain to Azerbaijan. In this connection we closely cooperate with State Customs Committee and the Ministry of Taxes," Dadashev said. However, to define efficiency of rise in grain prices it is necessary to analyze activities of all exporters. In Kazakhstan price for 1 ton of grain was $135 by June, $185 after July, and is $230 now.
The Chairman of ICAP, Igor Artemyev, believes formation of cartels is peculiar for CIS, when large-scale producers establish monopolies and come to an arrangement to increase prices several times. Russian legislation stipulates for criminal responsibility for this. ICAP established a staff which collects all information from CIS anti-monopoly services. So, a basis is created which enables investigation of commodity markets to reveal violations.