Japan's Dentsu, Others Found Reluctant to Accept Price Hikes

Tokyo, March 14 (Jiji Press)--Advertising giant Dentsu Inc. and two other Japanese companies have been found to be reluctant to accept price hikes by their business partners, the Fair Trade Commission said Friday.

Dentsu, transportation service company Nippon Express Co. and home center operator Kohnan Shoji Co. have kept their transaction prices with their partners unchanged without consultation despite rising raw materials and other costs, the antitrust watchdog said.

The FTC will urge the three to improve their practices, including by holding talks on prices with their business partners. The commission hopes to help companies pass rising costs on to their clients appropriately to make it easier for them to raise the salaries of their workers.

The commission investigated transactions between June 2023 and May 2024. Through on-site inspections and mandatory reports from companies under investigation, the commission confirmed that the three kept transaction prices unchanged with "a considerable number of business partners" without consultation.

The watchdog disclosed the names of the three based on the antimonopoly law.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]