Seoul, Oct 29 - South Korea's antitrust agency is investigating a number of top retailers for possible squeezing of suppliers, according to an official at Lotte Shopping Co. , the country's top retailer.
The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) probe, which comes as local retailers in Asia's third-largest economy face slowing growth and stagnant consumption, will look at whether the industry is using unfairly its buying power to put pricing pressure on producers.
Officials at the antitrust watchdog and other retailers could not be reached for comment, but South Korea's Yonhap News agency reported on Sunday the FTC was targetting a total of seven retailers, including Lotte Department Store run by Lotte Shopping, Samsung Corp's Samsung Plaza, the Home-plus discount store chain, which is owned by Britain's Tesco Plc, and GS Home Shopping.
"We expect the Fair Trade Commission to visit us next week," said the Lotte official, who declined to be identified. "This is about the usual allegations of unfair trading with suppliers."