German-based Schaeffler Korea and Japan-based Jtekt were caught having been involved in price-fixing for double tapering bearings and were slapped with 7.5 billion won in fine along with a corrective order, the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said Monday. Double tapering bearings are used in auto transmissions.



The commission said when Hyundai and Kia chose to move away from having Jtekt as a sole supplier and tap Schaeffler for bearings too, the auto parts makers colluded with each other for price rigging.



Schaeffler Korea and JTEKT agreed to maintain bearing prices as high as they could do so fearing that their prices should be cut in the case of price competition. The two bearing firms exchanged corporate information over price proposal and control production to split their market share by half-and-half, FTC said.