Beijing to target antimonopoly probes at six industries
NDRC official says focus will be on aerospace, cars, appliances, household chemicals, medicine and telecoms
China will focus antitrust investigations on six industries ranging from aerospace to medicine, state media quoted an official as saying, signalling a broadening of a campaign on prices.
State media quoted Lu Yanchun, an official from the anti-monopoly bureau at the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), as saying the agency would also look at the car, household chemicals, telecommunications and household appliance industries.
Lu said antimonopoly investigations had involved not only state-owned companies, private and foreign firms but also industry associations, according to the reports.
The NDRC is China’s top economic planning body and regulates prices. It has launched nearly 20 pricing-related probes into domestic and foreign firms in the last three years, according to official media reports and research published by law firms.
Regulators have previously suggested that cars, telecoms and banks might be on the watch list in future.
