A class action lawsuit alleges that leading PVC pipe manufacturers exploited supply chain disruptions to fix prices and overcharge customers.
On Aug. 23, a class action lawsuit was filed alleging that some leading PVC pipe manufacturers exploited supply chain disruptions to fix prices and overcharge their customers for PVC municipal water and PVC electrical conduit pipes.
Three major PVC pipe distributors, Core & Main, Ferguson and Frontline Waterworks, were named as co-conspirators.
The lawsuit alleges that the manufacturers and above-listed co-conspirators “conspired and combined to fix, raise, maintain, and stabilize” the price of PVC pipe in the United States by coordinating price increases via OPIS – a paid commodity pricing service that publishes daily prices and market trends.
“It is well known that municipal PVC water pipe pricing has remained stickier than underlying PVC resin prices,” Baird’s Industrial Distribution research analysts said in a flash news update.
The lawsuit named several entities as defendants, including:
- Ten leading PVC pipe manufacturers, which control the majority of the wholesale market for PVC municipal water pipes and PVC electrical conduit in the U.S.: Atkore, Cantex, Diamond Plastics, IPEX, JM Eagle, National Pipe and Plastics, Otter Tail, Prime Conduit, Southern Pipe, and Westlake.
- Information exchange firm OPIS, which offers a reporting service for pricing and market intelligence in various industries (including PVC pipe) to paying subscribers.
The suit alleges that the above parties entered into an agreement, “at least as early as January 1, 2021 to exchange price signaling statements and competitively sensitive information” through OPIS with the purpose of “coordinating supra-competitive price for PVC pipes and effect of generate historic profit margins.”
A figure presented in the lawsuit, below, compares the actual PVC pipe prices (in blue) to the prices buyers would have paid in a market free of the alleged price collusion (in red, listed as “but-for”).
MDM will continue to monitor this situation as it develops.
Related Posts
-
Though less than expected, the latest rise in the wholesale inflation gauge suggests Federal interest…
-
Core & Main plans to expand its product offering and service capabilities in the underground…
-
Core & Main expands into Southeast U.S. with its second announced acquisition in August.
Share this article
Vesna Brajkovic
Vesna Brajkovic is MDM’s Senior Editor, having joined the company in May 2023. She has more than seven years of experience as a B2B publication editor, having focused on the commercial trucking, railroad, transit, fleet maintenance, automotive aftermarket and aviation industries. Brajkovic most recently spent the past two-plus years as Managing Editor of Heavy Duty Trucking for Bobit Business Media — where she reported and edited news and features on the commercial trucking industry, managed eNewsletters and social media, coordinated print magazine production and developed content for events and multimedia such as podcasts and videos. She can be contacted at vesna@mdm.com.
Log In
Read the latest articles and see your reports.
Popular Now
MDM Directories
Sign Up for the MDM Update Newsletter
The MDM update newsletter is your best source for news and trends in the wholesale distribution industry.
Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.