The Competition Authority of Kenya(CAK) has penalized nine companies for hiking the prices of steel products and affecting competition in the market.

“The Authority has pursuant to an investigation, penalized nine steel manufacturers a total of Sh 338.84million. The companies engaged in cartel conduct whose effect was to increase the cost of construction of homes and infrastructure by artificially inflating the prices of steel products,” the authority stated.

According to the authority, the cartels had been inflating prices of steel products including bars, pipes, beams, and sheets, accounting for over 20 percent of the total cost of constructing a house.

The companies penalized for adjusting prices are; Nail and Steel Products Limited, Orono Kenya Limited, Blue Nile Wire Products Limited, Tononoka Rolling Mills Limited, Devki Steel Mills, Doshi & Hardware Limited, Corrugated Steel Limited, Jumbo Steel Mills and Accurate Steel Mills Limited.

The mentioned firms excluding Accurate Steel Mills have additionally been penalized for colluding to limit the import of certain steel materials.

Adano Wario, the Authority’s Acting Director-General, said that the penalties are equivalent to the manufacturers’ action effect on consumers that led to the high cost of steel products.