Price-fixing probe hits Chow Tai Fook, Chow Sang Sang

Hong Kong jewellery retailers Chow Tai Fook and Chow Sang Sang are being probed along with 11 mainland gold retailers and an industry association over manipulation of gold prices in Shanghai, reported on its website yesterday.

The investigation is the latest action taken by mainland regulators amid increased scrutiny of business practices. Several foreign makers of baby formula have been investigated over the past month for possible price fixing, and drug maker GlaxoSmithKline has been accused of various economic crimes.

said the investigation initiated by the antitrust bureau of the Shanghai Municipal Development and Reform Commission began in May this year and that 13 jewellery retailers and the Shanghai Gold & Jewellery Trade Association were involved.

Some of them have admitted that they "colluded in the price manipulation and hurt consumers' interest", the report said.

Chow Tai Fook, the world's largest jewellery retailer with over 1,800 shops in the mainland, said in a statement yesterday that the company had its own gold pricing mechanism and was not subject to any association.

"Chow Tai Fook's gold product prices are reasonably set, based on the cost of raw materials and various operating costs … and take the international gold price as its major reference," the statement said. "The prices of our gold products are uniform across the country and there are no regional differences."