Argentina: Newsprint monopoly benefits Clarín media group

Papel Prensa, Argentina’s largest maker of newsprint, has been targeted in an investigation regarding breaches to competition law. The investigation also affects Argentina’s largest media groups.

Papel Prensa, part of the Clarín Media Group since the end of Argentina’s dictatorship, has been accused of giving its parent company below-cost prices for newsprint, as well as high buy-back prices for unsold newspapers. Editors that refused the terms offered by the company, on the other hand, have been charged up to 58% more for this essential resource.

El Clarín has been accused of manipulating the market by using the advantages provided by their control of Papel Prensa through a combination of lower prices and higher volume. Papel Prensa’s price discrimination has included artificially low levels of production, increasing the need for imports and raising the costs for Clarín’s competition.

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