Board of Directors of Egyptian Competition Authority decided in its meeting held on 14 August, to refer 70 brick factory owners to the Prosecutor General’s office after their owners were found to have violated Article 6 (A) of the Competition Protection Law.
The authority said that the factories’ owners agreed among themselves to raise and stabilise the sale prices of clay bricks.
The authority noted in press statement on Thursday that this decision was accompanied by a number of administrative measures taken by the board of directors, which will be announced later, in light of the authority’s efforts to confront consumer harmful practices and freedom of competition.
The statement pointed out that the authority is currently preparing an economic study aimed at determining the fair price of bricks to eliminate practices of the violating companies and the disruption of competition mechanisms, which assumes that each entity determines its price individually according to its priorities and needs.
The clay brick industry is one of the cornerstones of the construction sector and an important component of real estate development.
Any rise in the price of this industry may lead to an unjustified increase in the real estate sector, which in turn may adversely affect the quality of infrastructure and reduce urban expansion, which ultimately reflects on the Egyptian economy, according to the statement.
