S.Korean petrochems fined for price fixing-FTC

SEOUL, June 22 (Reuters) - South Korea's Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said on Sunday it had imposed fines totalling 12.7 billion won ($12.32 million) on eight petrochemical firms for fixing prices of their products.

The petrochemical firms including SK Energy (096770.KS), GS Caltex, Samsung Total Petrochemical Corp, and Honam Petrochemical Corp (011170.KS) held regular meetings to determine prices of six petrochemical products to keep the prices high, the antitrust watchdog FTC said in a statement.

The monthly meetings began in 2000 for some of the products including Sytrene Monomer, Toluene, Xylene and Mono-Ethylene Glycol, the commission said.

The petrochemical products are used as feedstock for glue, paint and polyesters. ($1=1030.5 Won) (Reporting by Angela Moon; Editing by Anshuman Daga)