US court orders Hebei firm to pay $153m

Hebei Welcome Pharmaceutical Co Ltd, based in north China, has been ordered to pay $153 million to US-based Ranis Co Inc for rigging the price of vitamin C in the US market, China Business News reported on Tuesday.

The ruling was made by the district court in the eastern district of New York on Nov 26.

Hebei Welcome is a subsidiary of North China Pharmaceutical Group Corp, one of the leading drug manufacturers in China.

The compensation amounts to 52.5 times the 17.8 million yuan ($2.92 million) in net profits of NCPC in 2012.

The other three defendants in the case, CSPC Weisheng Pharmaceutical (Shijiazhuang) Co Ltd, Aland (Jiangsu) Nutraceutical Group and Northeast Pharmaceutical Group Co Ltd, chose to settle with the plaintiffs by paying $34 million in compensation.

The lawsuit dates back to 2005 when US-based Ranis and Animal Science Products Inc sued the four largest producers of vitamin C in China for rigging the price of the product in the US market, pushing it from $2.5 per kilogram to $15 per kilogram.

NCPC appealed after the court handed out a verdict of $162 million compensation to the plaintiffs in March.

NCPC said on Monday that it had not received any notification about the ruling.