U.S. soda ash firms settle S.African cartel case

JOHANNESBURG, Nov 4 (Reuters) - A group of U.S. natural soda ash producers has admitted to price fixing and agreed to halt exports to South Africa, the country's antitrust body said on Tuesday.

The Competition Commission said the American Natural Soda Ash Corporation (ANSAC) had agreed to pay a 9.7 million rand ($996,900) fine, or 8 percent of soda ash annual sales in South Africa, in a settlement to the long-running cartel case.

ANSAC group must stop collective exports of soda ash -- the active ingredient in washing soda -- to Africa's biggest economy within six months. Individual members, which include FMC Corp (FMC.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and a unit of Solvay (SOLB.BR: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), will be allowed to do direct business with South African consumers. The case has been running since 1999, when Chemserve, a unit of South African chemicals group AECI (AFEJ.J: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), and Botswana's Botash lodged a complaint that ANSAC and its local partner CHC Global were fixing the price of soda ash for export.

The Competition Commission said in a statement ANSAC had admitted it required members to channel sales of soda ash to South Africa through the group, which set prices and trading terms.

The Commission said it found ANSAC had the same arrangement for export to any country outside the United States and Canada.