Seoul: CJ Cheiljedang Corp., a major South Korean food company, announced its decision to lower the prices of its flour products for both business-to-business (B2B) and retail consumers by an additional 5 percent on average. This decision adds to previous price cuts of 4 percent for B2B products and 5.5 percent for retail consumer products, resulting in total reductions of nearly 10 percent in some categories since the beginning of the year.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the decision follows comments from Fair Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman Ju Biung-ghi, who earlier this week suggested that flour prices should be reduced by at least 10 percent due to alleged industry collusion practices. CJ Cheiljedang is currently under investigation by the FTC for suspected collusion in flour pricing and has recently incurred fines for collaborating with two smaller competitors to fix sugar prices.

A company official explained that the additional price cut is part of efforts to comply with the government's price stabilization policy, despite challenging business conditions. In a related development, CJ Foodville Corp., the operator of the bakery chain Tous les Jours, announced it would reduce prices on 17 bread and cake products by an average of 8.2 percent.

Earlier in the day, Paris Baguette, a leading bakery franchise under South Korean food and beverage conglomerate SPC Group, also revealed plans to decrease prices on 11 food items starting next month.