The Supreme Court of Pakistan has upheld a Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) ruling against the Pakistan Vanaspati Manufacturers Association (PVMA) for collectively setting ghee and cooking oil prices.

A two-member bench, comprising Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail and Justice Salahuddin Panhwar, upheld the findings of the CCP and Competition Appellate Tribunal (CAT) and ordered PVMA to pay a Rs30 million penalty.

The case dates back to 2007-09, when the federal government held discussions with PVMA over reducing ghee and cooking oil prices.

PVMA later communicated the agreed prices to its member manufacturers.

The CCP concluded that the association had negotiated and set prices on behalf of competing manufacturers, violating Section 4 of the Competition Act, 2010. The commission initially imposed a Rs50 million penalty, which was later upheld by the CAT.

The Supreme Court ruled that competing businesses must set their prices independently based on their own commercial decisions. They cannot collectively determine prices through a trade association.

The court also clarified that setting a lower price does not make collective price-fixing legal. The violation was the joint determination of prices by competing businesses, regardless of whether the agreed prices were higher or lower.

The court further held that an arrangement cannot be exempted from competition law simply because it was intended to benefit the public.

The Supreme Court consequently upheld the finding that PVMA engaged in prohibited price-fixing and directed the association to deposit Rs30 million.